


Another Life

by Basched



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Film, Precursors, Slash, Trauma, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-02-11 18:36:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 34
Words: 20,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2078799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Basched/pseuds/Basched
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chuck Hansen is dead. Isn't he?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Out From The Ocean

**Author's Note:**

> My first Pacific Rim fic. 
> 
> Written mainly because I love the wonderful Chaleigh fics here and I had to do something myself. This is not fluff, or sweet... but my take on what could actually happen after the first film. Maybe. I don't know if the ending will be happy or not... but it will definitely have Chaleigh. 
> 
> Not beta'd, though if anyone is wanting to beta future installments, fantastic! 
> 
> The chapters will be short and posted weekly, if I can keep up. I'm supposed to be doing a Marvel BB at the moment, but my mind is going utterly nuts over my two favourite OTPs. 
> 
> Do enjoy.

He walked out of the black, out of the water, and strode through the crowd of startled onlookers without a single care. They all pointed at him, at his naked body, he heard their voices calling out to him but he didn’t understand the words. 

Some approached him, tried to cover his nakedness and tried to talk to him, but again the words meant nothing, with the exception of two. They spoke a name. 

They acted like they knew him, like they recognised him but that wasn’t possible. 

They couldn’t know him. Did they? 

A touch against his arm made him react. He lashed out and there was a snapping of bone before the screams. Lots of the crowd fled, but there were a few people—in strange uniforms—that rushed at him. 

It was easy enough to dispatch those who tried to subdue him. Their screams as more bones broke and blood spattered sounded oddly satisfying. 

“Ranger Hansen! Don’t make me shoot you sir! Chuck Hansen! Listen to me!” 

There were those two words again, vaguely familiar but… unimportant. 

He walked forward and ignored the warnings. 

A loud bang rang out and then there was pain. 

He looked down at the blood dripping down his body.


	2. The Pull

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raleigh tries to cope with Chuck's return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second part of my story, not beta'd but I hope it's still interesting. :) Enjoy.

Chuck Hansen’s return from the dead was all over the news around the world and the public were in an uproar about it. Every channel and network covered it and people were angry, afraid and confused. 

It had been two years since the breach had been sealed in Operation Pitfall. 

Everyone had mourned him, the world recognised Chuck Hansen and Stacker Pentecost as heroes but how could Chuck be here? How was this possible? 

When Raleigh first saw the footage, the close up on that pale expressionless face, it made something fearful and sickening twist his guts. 

It did every time he watched it. Now was no different. 

Raleigh paused the recorded footage on the screen in front of him and walked up close to the TV. He gazed at Chuck and gently traced his fingers across the young man’s face. 

Chuck had been so emotional (he had hated Raleigh, though why Raleigh didn’t know) and Chuck’s intense and wild outbursts often got him into trouble, but there was nothing in those eyes now. He was void of all feeling. He looked empty. 

Raleigh felt a pull in his mind that made him step back from the TV. 

Mako needed him to come back. She wanted Raleigh to put aside the fear he still had of what happened during Pitfall. She wanted to help him, but the nightmares Raleigh had every night of the other side, the other universe, made it difficult for him to accept help from anyone. 

He was scared. 

The continual incessant tug in his mind told Raleigh that Mako wasn’t going to give up until he complied. 

_I’m not letting go this time, Raleigh. Chuck needs us._

The man who had crawled out of the ocean was not Chuck Hansen. 

Raleigh felt another pull in his head and it wasn’t from Mako.


	3. Ghost In The Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Herc Hansen wants to see his son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the third chapter. Not beta'd and certainly not sweet or kind to the characters. Sorry. I hope you still likes. 
> 
> Cheers.

They wouldn’t let Raleigh or Mako see Chuck. 

The UN and PPDC officials had Chuck placed in a sectioned off room in the wing of a Sydney hospital and very heavy security was put in place. Raleigh, Mako, Tendo and some of Striker’s J-Techs were told to _‘keep away.’_ Apparently this matter, Chuck’s condition, didn’t concern them. 

Raleigh, Tendo and the techs kicked up quite a fight. Raleigh nearly got dragged away and arrested for punching several of the security men, but Mako managed to temper him, slightly and only just, with a touch to his arm. Raleigh eventually backed away from the security men and moved off down the hall.

“This didn’t concern us?” Raleigh seethed. He went to hit the wall with his fist but thought better of it. He pulled at his hair in frustration and yelled back to security who had tried to beat him back. “He’s a Ranger! He’s one of us!”

Mako said nothing, but Raleigh knew she was just as angry as he was. 

Their outrage was nothing compared to the Marshal’s. 

Herc came barging through the corridors like a storm, knocking everything and everyone stupid enough to get in his way, clear off the floor and into the walls. 

Herc Hansen tried to see his son and there was a fierce struggle when he was refused access. The usually cold and hardened Australian Marshal was in a frenzy of immense anger and grief that was agonising to witness. 

“He is my son!!” Herc bellowed, tears streaming down his face. Raleigh could barely restrain him even with help from the hospital staff. “Let me see him, you fucking bastards! Let me talk to my boy!” 

Raleigh tried to do everything he could for Herc but in the end he could only fall down to the floor with the Marshall and cradle him in his arms.

“I can hear him…”

_Oh shit._ Raleigh closed his eyes and clung on tighter to the grieving father. 

The ghost-drift connection Herc had with his son had dissipated long ago, but somehow it had come back? The impossible had happened. Raleigh couldn’t even begin to imagine what Herc was feeling with Chuck’s ghost back in his mind.

But what was going on in his own mind was much worse.


	4. After The Shot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He took the shot... then he was supposed to have died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Here's another chapter for the story. I hope you like it even though it's not exactly nice (again). Warning for the nastiness though. 
> 
> It's not beta'd so there will be mistakes.

The explosion should have vaporized him. He should have been obliterated.

The last thing he remembered was pain and agony, a searing heat, a blinding light and then the black took over. He died. 

Did he? 

He woke up and he had form. He was whole and drifting in cold thick blue fluid that breathed and tasted like blood. 

He couldn’t see anything but there was something here with him. It was hiding. It had been waiting for the right moment. 

Something brushed against his legs and his arms, something slithering and cold. 

His panic soared. He tried to scream. 

The pain and agony returned and it was 100 times worse. 

Claws and tentacles grabbed him, he was split open down the centre of his chest and his skin was pulled apart. His insides were torn, cut and put back together and he was awake when it all happened. He tried to scream again but fluid entered through his mouth and nose and it choked him. 

It was when he wished that he would finally die, that bright opal eyes stared at him through the dark. 

It was like looking straight into the eyes of hell. He couldn't look away even though his eyes burned.

Then he heard something horrible, an alien voice that spoke words he didn’t understand but made his ears bleed.

The eyes turned red.

_What are you?_


	5. What are you?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They want to know. They're not worth telling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not supposed to post it until Monday, but I thought feck it. I want to post it up. Hope you like. 
> 
> Not beta'd either.

“What are you?” 

It was the one question he was asked. Over and over.

Chuck didn’t answer. 

At first it was because he didn’t understand what they were saying, the language was alien to him, bizarre and strange, though it shouldn’t have been. Then he didn’t talk to them simply because they weren’t worth speaking to. 

They were speaking English. He knew English. He was taught it when he was young, a child. 

His mum and dad had taught him, using pictures and objects as reference. They even sung the song of the alphabet and showed him books with the words written down. His teachers taught him at school, they taught him to write as well as read and speak this language. His friends (and his dad) even taught him the rude words, the cursive swearing, that his mother didn’t like. 

He spoke English all time with his Australian accent. 

No. 

He had not been young in millions…billions of years. He had no mother or father. He was one of the eldest of his race, one of the first initial parts of the hive mind now broken away and individual again. 

He was the most vicious and brutal of his kind. Pain was his language. 

Chuck sat on the floor, arms constricted by the straight jacket, and leant casually against the padded wall. He looked at the interrogators with a glare, until each one of them turned around and fled the room as if they were about to piss themselves with fear. 

They scared so easily. 

“What are you?” 

Different vermin came each time to ask him this, men in suits who thought they knew what they were doing. Others wanted to poke and prod him, examine him. They wanted to know what he was, but they didn’t have a clue. 

They weren’t important to him anyway, they were nothing. They were lower than nothing. 

There was only one he was interested in. The one who he had felt in his mind, the one who pulled and called out for him. 

Chuck waited for days. The person he wanted to see didn’t turn up. So he didn’t utter a single word. 

The vermin got angry. 

They got so angry they lost control and beat him to the point where blood oozed down his face, but it was such a futile effort in getting him to respond. Their attempts at inflicting pain was laughable too. He didn’t cry out or scream. He didn’t even flinch. 

Chuck had endured far worse than this.

He could show them how to really inflict pain. 

“What are you?”


	6. Newt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A different doctor comes to see Chuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting up again. That's two for this week... I just couldn't help myself. 
> 
> Not beta'd as usual.

They finally sent in someone he knew. 

When the door opened and the new arrival came through, there was recognition along with a spark of emotion. 

Anger. 

Chuck looked at the man with a shot of contempt and then lost interest in him for a moment, focusing instead on a tiny speck of dirt on the far wall. 

“Chuck? Hey buddy… you remember me?” 

_Oh yes._

His attention turned back to his new visitor. He remembered this one all right. 

This vermin was the one who had changed everything. This was the one who had shown there was intelligence in this world. It was low intelligence, but it had gained their attention nonetheless. 

He was so small and unimportant but somehow this piece of shit had managed to nearly ruin millions of years of work. He had the audacity to link minds with their kind. 

“Chuck, they want me to take a look at ya, make sure you’re…?”

_You’re..?_ Chuck tilted his head to the side. The vermin was so scared he couldn’t finish his sentence. He was shaking as he approached. 

“I need to examine you. Will you let me, Chuck? Huh?” 

The vermin was right to be scared. If it weren’t for this thing, and that other one who helped him, this world would be in ruins by now. But plans changed… it was why Chuck was here. 

As soon as the vermin was close enough, Chuck acted. 

Bone snapped. 

Unfortunately the vermin didn’t die. He just cried out in pain and fled the room with a broken arm.

The straight jacket was a pitiful restraint.


	7. Eureka Striker!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Herc remembers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought stuff it again. Gonna post another chapter up, mainly so the one I post tomorrow will be the REALLY interesting one. 
> 
> Well I think it is. Anyhoo! I hope you like. No answers yet... but soon. :) 
> 
> Not beta'd.

For six years Herc had his son in his mind. 

The moment they first drifted together, Herc was bombarded with all of Chuck’s memories. It was virtually impossible not to chase the RABIT back then. 

Chuck blamed Herc for the death of his mother. While Herc had always known this, to feel such anger and resentment, such grief on top of his own, nearly broke him. But then Chuck saw what Herc went through, he finally knew what his father had to do and the agonising choice he made. 

Chuck didn’t forgive him, but he understood.

Chuck’s pride and elation at his accomplishments in the academy overwhelmed Herc so much, he wasn’t sure who was happiest, him or Chuck. Herc only wished that he had shown his joy when Chuck achieved it at the time instead of being so distant and cold. When they drifted, Chuck knew how proud he was, but Herc’s lack of support back then was and always would be an issue.

Herc wished he hadn’t been so angry and confrontational when he found out that Chuck ‘liked guys’ and that it all started with a strong lustful infatuation with Gipsy Danger’s youngest pilot. He wished he had understood and accepted straight away instead of being so damned stubborn and stupid, instead of being a complete insensitive arsehole about it. 

The drift helped him to accept Chuck for who he was. It didn’t matter if he liked men or women, Chuck was still Chuck. He was his boy and Herc did love him. 

They shared both the good and the bad together. They weren’t perfect. People may not have thought they were close, but Herc and Chuck were, more than a father and son could be. They still had major issues between them, but they shared a bond that not many could have. 

When Chuck died their connection broke but it didn’t disappear. At least not right away. 

Herc’s sleep was haunted by his son’s ghost and then after time the ghost faded and he was left with just his own memories and so many regrets. The agony of being alone was too much, but Herc carried on. He did his job but he was an empty shell of a man. 

Two years after Pitfall, he was woken from his sleep by a scream in his head. 

_“Dad! Dad, help me! It hurts so much!”_


	8. Danger Gipsy Danger! Danger!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raleigh and Mako survive Pitfall, but has something else returned with them from the Anteverse?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I know! I'm creating more questions than answers again, but I really wanted to post this one up because it tells more of Raleigh. 
> 
> Do enjoy. Again it's not beta'd.

Their foreheads touched and they stayed there for a while, tuning out the choppers above them, so they could hear each other’s minds. 

For a while it was wonderful. Their joy at being alive, of having succeeded in closing the breach, drowned out everything else. They smiled and they laughed because they couldn’t not. This joy was the most blissful thing either of them had experienced and none of them wanted it to end. 

But it did. 

When they caught their breaths back, when the smiles faded, that’s when it happened. 

Raleigh bolted onto his back, screaming as his hands gripped the sides of his head. He began to convulse and thrash and it took everything Mako had to keep him from falling in the ocean. 

“Raleigh!” Her eyes widened and streamed with tears as her mind was affronted with flashes of horrific images, sounds and sensations of the Anteverse. Raleigh was screaming in her mind and in her ears, his pain was unbearable. She tried to block it out but she couldn’t. 

But then just as quickly as it had started, it ended. 

Mako had passed out from such an affront because she woke up in the Hong Kong Shatterdome hospital with doctors and nurses surrounding her, calling out her name. She responded as best she could, but what she saw and felt from Raleigh, it left her weak. 

Raleigh was still there. Mako saw him thrashing about on the bed across the room, screaming so much his voice was broken and hoarse. Even when they sedated him, he was still going through agony. 

For hours, Raleigh was like this. He cried out when he was awake and no amount of sedatives or drugs could ease his nightmares. It was two days later before he came back to reality, but even then he wasn’t the same. 

Everyone tried to help him, to get him through therapy and to return to work, but he was scared and Mako didn’t blame him. 

It wasn’t easy for her to help. Raleigh had erected barriers within his mind to keep her out and to keep his nightmares from invading her mind, but every so often Mako could peek in when the barriers weakened. 

She never liked what she saw. He was drowning… being swallowed up, yet all the time he managed to keep afloat. Barely. 

Mako did everything she could to keep him sane. She did everything in her power to let him keep his job. 

Two years later, when Chuck came back from the dead, she reached out to Raleigh again.

“I’m not letting go this time, Raleigh. Chuck needs us.”

She never expected to get the response that she did. It was Raleigh's voice, but it wasn't him. 

_“What are you?”_


	9. First Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Herc gets to see his son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did originally want to post one chapter a week, but what the hell.. I'll post when I want to really. I just hope people are enjoying reading this as much as I am enjoying writing it. 
> 
> Not beta'd so there will be mistakes.

They told him to keep his distance. It was difficult to do when Herc saw the condition of his son. They never even bothered to cover up the bruises and other injuries they had given him. 

Herc was livid. 

“You beat him? You fucking abused my boy to try and get him to talk?” He could barely contain his rage. He didn’t want to control it, he wanted to lash out and beat them all to a pulp, and that message got over loud and clear to the arseholes standing next to him. “Every single one of you who laid a finger on him, will pay.”

“He’s not your son.” 

“That is my boy! I’ve heard him in my head! I’ve heard him every night since he came back, but if you had let me see him, you would have had your answers by now! Instead you resorted to beating the shit out of him?”

“Chuck has attacked people, Marshal.” One man, in a particularly sharp and expensive suit, stood by Herc with five security men behind him. “He has hurt and nearly killed over twenty people, with his bare hands. Restraints have been useless on him. He has said absolutely nothing, he has not spoken a single word, not even in his sleep. You saw what happened to Doctor Geiszler? He doesn't care if he knows us, him, or you... I could be his twin and he wouldn't give a shit. ” 

“I am Chuck’s only family. He might not…”

“My superiors want answers. They don't want me to waste time with sentimental reunions.”

Sentimental reunions? Herc lunged angrily towards the man, to punch his smug looking face in, but two of the security men pulled him back. The others all pointed guns at him. 

“Your superiors? Who the hell are they? Who are they to determine what is best for my son?”

“He is not your son! That must be obvious, even to you. There is something else inside that young man, something that's not human. We need answers, Marshal Hansen. Your son’s return and the manner of his return, has told us that the risk of another breach is likely, that Pitfall wasn’t as successful as we all thought. We don’t want another breach. We don’t want the kaiju on the rampage again. We need to know what happened to the Anteverse. The people I work for are the only ones who can determine what is best for Chuck. Yes. More so than you.”

Herc didn’t believe that. While, yes… he knew that something else was inside Chuck, Newt had told him his theories, but he knew that Chuck was in there too. He’d called out through the ghost drift every night, he was strong as ever and always fighting. There was hope. 

But other questions came to mind, ones Mako, Raleigh and Tendo had voiced. Ones he had thought often himself. 

Why was Chuck being held here at the hospital, a civilian dominated facility, instead of at the Shatterdome or any secure military facility away from the city? None of it made sense. Herc sure has hell didn’t understand why the PDCC weren't overseeing this or making more efforts to be involved. 

“You should have let me fucking see him.” He growled. “You should have let me see…”

Herc’s voice trailed off as he noticed the very long recent scar that ran down the middle of Chuck’s bare chest. Chuck had lots of scars, including some from his drive suit, but this was different. He never had this before Pitfall. It was thick, indicating that the wound had been wide and deep, that... he had been pulled open. 

_Oh shit..._

Herc didn’t know how to react to the sudden smile his son gave him. It wasn’t Chuck’s smile. It wasn't him. 

“Chuck?” 

There was recognition. There was a tilt of his head and another smile. Chuck knew who he was. 

Herc got closer. He took small tentative steps before crouching down next to Chuck with his hands open wide, hoping that his boy would take hold of them, that there would be some physical contact. Chuck never took his hands. He just sat there and continued to smile. He didn’t attack Herc either, which surprised everyone. 

There was no ghost-drift. There were no whispers or cries of his son's voice in his mind, only silence and it terrified Herc. He reached out for Chuck with his thoughts, in the small hope of sensing something, anything left from their old connection, but there was a solid barrier blocking his way. 

_Oh God..._

“Chuck. It’s me… it’s dad. I’m here. They’re not going to hurt you anymore.” 

Chuck's smile widened into grin and he rose slowly to his feet, which made Herc get up too. He and the other men backed off as Chuck began to stroll casually around the room. They watched as he moved his head--like he was listening to a conversation or music--they stepped out of his way when he got close but none of them could hide their surprise when he stood in the centre of the room, closed his eyes, tilted his head back and uttered his first words since he'd crawled out of the ocean. 

“Come on out, mate. I know you’re there.”


	10. A Taste Of Things To Come

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reunion doesn't go quite the way Raleigh expects it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the chapter that will please people... but it might also piss you off. Sorry. (Am I? I dunno.) There is where it really starts folks. Enjoy! ;) Thank you to all those who read and comment and kudos. It's quite a buzz for this little author. Cheers! 
> 
> Not beta'd.

Raleigh chose not to hear Mako or Tendo, or indeed anyone calling out for him to stay where he was. He didn’t care that there were guns trained on him either. He walked in. 

Chuck opened his eyes and smiled. 

Raleigh approached him, again ignoring the warnings of the others. Raleigh looked into Chuck’s eyes, hoping to see the familiar glimmer of mischievousness, as well as the arrogant and cocky glint, within them. He wanted to recognise something of the young Ranger but there was emptiness staring back at him. 

Then those eyes flashed dark blue… kaiju blue. 

Instead of backing away with surprise, Raleigh stepped closer. His eyes dropped to look at the scar in the middle of Chuck’s chest that ran from his neck all the way down, past the waistband of his hospital pants. Instinctively, Raleigh’s hand reached out and his fingers traced along some of Chuck's scar. At the same time, his other hand slipped up under his shirt and traced a very similar scar on his own chest. 

_What the hell happened to us? What does this mean?_

Suddenly Chuck grabbed at Raleigh’s jaw. He pulled Raleigh close and turned his head sharply to the side. Raleigh hissed from the pain that wrench caused and had to screw his eyes shut when Chuck pressed his face against Raleigh’s neck and drew in a long savouring sniff. 

_Oh shit._

Raleigh tensed as Chuck’s body pressed against his. His other hand grabbed hard at Raleigh’s hip and he rubbed up against him, a little too much for Raleigh's liking. Raleigh wanted to push Chuck away but the grip on his face and hip was so hard he couldn’t manage it. Chuck was too strong. 

_Shit. Shit! What’s he doing?_

“Hmmm…” A deep satisfying groan murmured against Raleigh’s neck. The groan fluttered on Raleigh’s skin, making a warm tingle shiver down his spine. 

“Raleigh… what the fuck is going on?” Herc’s voice yelled. 

He didn’t know. He had no idea and when a lavish tongue licked up his neck and along his jaw to his ear, he tried again to push Chuck away, but it was a pitiful attempt. 

_“Oh fuuuck!”_

“Oh fuuuck!” Chuck murmured, what Raleigh had thought he’d only gasped in his mind, against his face. His warm breath heaved against Raleigh’s skin several times and he shuddered. 

Raleigh did too. He felt himself swell. 

_Oh god… this isn’t right._

Then there was pain as teeth gouged deep into his skin and ripped a chunk out of his shoulder. 

He opened his eyes and Chuck was grinning back at him, with blood pouring from his mouth.


	11. Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chuck makes his escape... reluctantly and viciously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey hey! 
> 
> It's early o clock in the morning and I have a long 13 hour shift ahead of me! Ugh! But I wanted to post this chapter up before I headed off! It's probably not what any one is expecting. I don' t know. But this is just one chapter which makes the warning of violence necessary. Do enjoy anyhows. 
> 
> Not beta'd.

_Vermin aren’t supposed to taste this sweet…but he does. He’s intoxicating…he’s glorious and potent._

One. Two. Three. When the others in the room tried to kill him, they sealed their own deaths. 

Four, five and six. 

They dropped to the floor but their bodies still twitched and jerked. There was screaming and agonising cries as his hands tore them apart as easily as paper. Blood sprayed his face and body, it poured and dripped off his hands and it felt great.

He took one look at Raleigh and smiled. Oh how he wished he could take him… but the only other familiar--Dad?--stood in front of Raleigh like a shield and Chuck really didn’t want to kill either of these men. It was strange that the older man made him stay his hand, normally he wouldn't have hesitated, especially if he got between him and his claim. 

He bolted from the room. 

Seven. Eight, nine and ten. The men joined the other dead for trying to shoot him. 

_He tastes so delicious. The young always do._

The fools still tried to shoot him but he was too quick and there were plenty of people around to use as shields. These vermin were terrible shots anyway. 

Fifteen. Sixteen. Seventeen and eighteen. Nineteen, twenty and twenty one. 

Twenty two and twenty three stupidly tried to stop him as well. The sweet sound of their bones cracking, of flesh punching through flesh, the feel of their warm innards within his hand as he wrenched them out…it felt amazing. He dropped the entrails to the floor with a wet thud and licked his hand. He grimaced. 

They weren’t the same as Raleigh. In fact they tasted disgusting. 

They were nothing like Raleigh. Chuck had not tasted blood and felt this powerful in… so long. He’d forgotten what it could feel like. The young one was going to be glorious with him. They were going to do such wonderful things together. 

The blood made him high, it excited him. It made this body rage like it was in heat and he desperately wanted to go back. He wanted to make his claim, to take another bite, but he couldn’t risk himself and this body, not when more of _them_ started shooting at him. 

He would have to return at another time. 

Chuck laughed with every kill, with every life he took. These vermin were so weak and easy to break. 

When he stepped out onto the street, the sound of the vermin and their city caught him off guard. The air, the noises and sensations caused him to stumble. It was nothing like the other side, nothing like his home. 

Home. It was gone. But there were means to start again, to rebuild. 

Chuck began to run, in the only direction he knew.


	12. Toils Of The Human Body

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The human body has many faults...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter. Not beta'd but still good... at least I think it is. Appreciate and love all the kudos and comments! Thank you very much!

_“….none other than the Striker Eureka pilot Chuck Hansen, who was believed to have died in the PDCC operation that closed the breach under the pacific two years ago. His recent and startling return from the dead had the world both amazed and extremely concerned and the PDCC have given no statements as to how it happened or what it actually means. The horrific events at the hospital have certainly given the BuenaKai a louder voice. The religious followers of the Kaiju are attributing Hansen’s return to the commencement of the end of the world. Whatever Chuck Hansen’s intentions are, all the public are warned to keep away from him and if you spot him, report it to the police or PDCC. Do not confront him. He is extremely dangerous.”_

They had no idea how dangerous he could be. In his natural form, he could lay waste to this entire world, all on his own. He could do it in less than a week. With the rest of his kind here, it wouldn't even take a day, but this environment still wasn't safe for them. That would soon change. 

Chuck slipped down into a small alley next to the tv store and sunk down to the floor. Right now, he wasn’t feeling dangerous. The rush and thrill of the blood was wearing off. 

This body was tired and in need of sustenance. Chuck spat with utter contempt at the thought of having to consume the vermin’s food again. These creatures were not built to last or endure, they were pathetically weak, and their limitations made him angry. His depleting strength meant that he couldn’t continue on foot either, he had to stop and rest! These vermin, they had to sleep and eat to get their energy back... it was not efficient. 

Suddenly his eyes became heavy, and he yawned. 

_No! Don’t fall asleep! He’ll surface again! You don't want him here. He shouldn't be here!_

Chuck jerked himself awake and realised he wasn’t alone. Coming down the alley towards him was a young couple, a man and a woman, finely dressed for the evening. They approached him with wide grins on their stupid faces and the woman was holding out a bottle of water to him as if he was some poor injured animal. 

“Chuck? Ranger Hansen? Hi. I'm Kari. This is Mike.” the woman smiled. Her squeaky voice was more than annoying. "Do you want some water?" 

He wanted rip her head off, just so he wouldn't hear that voice again. He wanted kill them both and maybe get his energy back by eating them instead of the crap they ate. Chuck felt sickened at the thought of eating these vermin, he wasn't going to sink so low, so he took the water instead and gulped down the contents, which made him feel a bit better. His stomach growled. 

“You want some food?” asked the man, “We... we can get you some.” 

“You obviously know who I am? Yeah?” Chuck replied. The couple did this ridiculous laugh and nodded. “You know I could kill you, quite easily. I’m fucking dangerous. Don't you watch the news?” 

That wiped those ridiculous looks off their faces. They had seen it. They knew what he had done. They backed away in fear. 

“We don’t believe the news…" _yeah, fucking right!_ "it’s not your fault, Chuck. Something has been done to you, you've suffered. Please don’t kill us… Kari and I… we only want to help you. We have been fans of yours for years. It's a miracle you're alive and we really do want to... help. Can we?”

_Fine. Okay._ “Yeah… Take me to where I want to go.” 

“Sure! We can take you anywhere!” Kari smiled again. “Where do you want to go? ” 

Chuck smiled. Maybe he won't kill these stupid vermin just yet. They could be useful. 

When they did as he demanded, when he stepped out of the car and saw the sunset, an emotion he didn't want stirred within. 

The ocean looked different through these eyes, peaceful and quite beautiful, but it wasn’t right. Not quite. 

Chuck stepped onto the beach—the sand a curious and pleasing sensation on his feet— and took in a deep breath. The smell of the sea was invigorating, it felt strange and so alien to him, as well as familiar. 

_“Mum used to bring me here… she taught me to swim… to surf. We used to watch the sunset together. I miss her.”_

_“NO! Fuck off! Fuck off! Don’t you DARE try to sway me you piece of shit!”_

Slowly he walked into the sea, going further and further into the water until it engulfed him and he submerged beneath the waves.


	13. Like This Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pain feels so nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi ya again! 
> 
> Here's another chapter ready... well it's not beta'd (as usual) but I hope you still like! 
> 
> Enjoy!

Did he cry out? 

Raleigh didn’t know. He might have done because there was so much pain. 

He liked it. 

Raleigh had never been aroused by pain before. If he had cried out from the bite, if his face had contorted in agony, he wasn’t doing so now. Raleigh was smiling, grinning sheepishly and loving the ripples of pleasure the pain appeared to be giving him. As Mako and a nurse hurried him away to a treatment room, Raleigh felt lightheaded but he simply couldn’t stop grinning. 

This wasn’t normal was it? 

It hadn’t been normal for Chuck to behave the way he did. 

As for his body reacting to Chuck, Raleigh didn’t want that. He was strictly into the ladies and always had been. He wasn’t gay or liked men that way at all, in fact he never looked at a guy and had sexual thoughts about them. But it was difficult to ignore that his body definitely had been (and still was) aroused by Chuck’s close proximity, by his touch and his heavy and heated breaths against his neck. It was weird. Thinking of how Chuck’s mouth and tongue had felt on his skin, turned him on. Raleigh could barely control his gasping breaths when he realised he was still hard. 

He didn’t realise just how hard until Mako and the nurse sat him down. He winced at how sensitive everything was and near as dammit came right there and then. He screwed his eyes shut and tried to ignore the spasms of ecstasy squeezing his balls, he tried to ignore the throbs pulsing up his shaft and hoped to (god?) that Mako, the nurse and the doctor, hadn’t noticed the affliction. 

Thankfully the blood coming from his shoulder was more important to them. 

Raleigh didn’t recall anything the doctor was saying or did as they tended to his wound. His erection was the least of their concerns as they cut off his shirt. They gasped in surprise at the sight of the same kind of scar Chuck had running down the centre of his chest. 

Raleigh’s mind was in too much chaos and Chuck was the cause of it. 

_Chuck could help relieve me. Oh god he could... with those hands and that foul mouth, yeah he could!_

“Do you remember what happened?” 

_Huh? What happened?_

Raleigh snapped out of his stupor and looked to the doctor and Mako with dazed eyes and an open mouth, drool seeping from his lips. He was grinning again and he couldn’t stop it. He shrugged his shoulders, sending another jolt of ecstatic pain down his arm and back and to his cock. 

He quickly covered himself with his hands and tried to make sense of what had occurred but his thoughts were so scattered and confused about the specifics. He remembered Chuck and how he felt at the time, but he wasn’t about to share _that_ with them. 

Raleigh and Herc had been the only ones left alive inside the room afterwards. Raleigh concentrated a little harder and remembered seeing the men in suits and the armed security lying on the floor devoid of life; a couple of them were even devoid of some internal organs which had spilled out of fist sized holes in their bodies. Blood was everywhere, over the walls and him and Herc… who had protected him. Or had he got in the way? 

_“Chuck!”_ The hurt and agony had cracked Herc’s voice as he pleaded with his son, Raleigh remembered that too, but then everything else happened so quickly. 

Tendo and Mako had been spared he noticed, mainly because they’d probably had the good sense to stay out of Chuck’s way when he escaped. 

Chuck Hansen. The pull in his mind and in his body was making Raleigh fidget, he couldn’t keep still.

“Are you okay? Raleigh?” Mako's soft voice and gentle touch at his mind lulled him back to reality again. 

She still managed to be centred and composed, but her eyes gave her away. She was worried and afraid for him and Chuck. She was worried about the scar and so was the doctor for neither of them could stop looking at it. 

“I’m… I’m okay. My shoulder hurts.” 

“It’s a deep gouge.” Mako said. “Raleigh… where did you get that scar?” 

Raleigh looked deep into Mako’s eyes. For two years she had been wanting answers as to what happened to him in the Anteverse. For the past few days she wanted to know about the response she got from his mind and now there was this. 

Raleigh wish he knew. He wish he could explain how he got this new addition to the other scars decorating his torso, he wished he could remember everything that happened from the moment he set Gipsy’s core on overload to the moment he climbed in that escape pod. He wished he knew why Chuck had bitten him and why he was having mixed feelings about it. 

_“Ra-leigh… I need you!”_

The voice that screamed in his head was terrified. Raleigh had to get out of here.


	14. K-Science Bros

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt knows what's going on. Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter up. This might give a few answers to things. I dunno. Hope you all like. Again its not beta'd.

“I told them! I told those suits it wasn’t Chuck, man! But they didn’t listen to me! They didn’t want to know, even after my arm was broken! I don’t know who they are either but they are people with power… and a lot of money that's for sure! Did you know they tried to pay me? Bribe me with money? It was tempting… real tempting but seeing Chuck… seeing him like that? No way! Norm, I swear, somehow there is a damned fucking Precursor in that kid’s head! How? I dunno, but we gotta find out and get it out! Shit! Especially if Chuck’s still in there too! This is seriously fucked up, Norm! He broke my arm… you see this? You see?!”

“Yes, I see. It’s quite obvious when your arm is in a cast and in a sling. So somehow one of the Precursors has possessed Chuck? Do you know which kind? A Cardinal, Bishop or Ambassador?”

For a moment, Newt didn’t reply back but eventually he cleared his throat with a nervous cough. “I don’t know.”

Hermann had a feeling that Newt had an idea, or possible theory at least, as to what was possessing the young man, but he was scared to say. Which meant it was bad. 

“We didn’t drift with them for long… “Newt nervously stammered, “we only got a brief glimpse into their world and what it was like. We only skimmed the surface… what if there is something bigger, stronger than the Cardinals? What if there is another kind of precursor that we don't know about... that's stronger and…”

“We will find it out.” 

“If we could determine what level of Precursor was inside Chuck, after confirming it for real with tests of their own, we could begin to figure out a way to get it out. But I don’t hold up high hopes of Chuck surviving this… the trauma of this could be enough to kill him. We gotta figure this out bro…”

“We can try and don’t call me bro, Newton. I’ve told you often enough!”

“Fine! Fine! But I’m right… those Anteverse wackos are using Chuck for something! We can’t let him suffer, we have to stop….”

Newt’s voice trailed off when he saw the commotion and uproar outside the hospital. He and Hermann both climbed out of the car and gazed in horror at the sight before them. There was police and army everywhere. Even reporters were swarming around, shouting for answers.

They saw the dead bodies being carried away. So many bodies. 

“My goodness…” Herman’s hand clamped down on Newt’s shoulder and squeezed. 

“Hermann, man… we have to get in there and talk to Herc. I said to him and Tendo that something like this would happen but maybe now we can all do something, cuz whoever these goons are that are running this, they’ve manipulated the high-ups to keep Chuck here and they’ve let him escape. I bet they wanted this!” 

“Then let’s get inside quickly, Newton!”

Gottlieb started to limp forward, as quickly as he could, towards the hospital. Newt scurried alongside him and both of them flashed their IDs at the authorities who quickly let them through. 

“Dear god.” 

As they followed back along Chuck’s escape route, it was impossible to miss the brutality he had used to get away. Blood was everywhere, along with entrails smeared across the floor.

The people still alive were in shock, some were crying and screaming still, but the doctors and staff were trying to help. They were doing their best. Hermann badly wanted to as well, but they had higher priorities. Eventually they found Herc, alive and in shock, barely holding together his control and anguish at what his son had done. Tendo and Mako were close by him, talking to him, reassuring him as best they could. 

“Docs.” Tendo looked relieved to see them. “Glad you’re here. To say we’ve got a situation is an understatement. We have to find Chuck, and quickly. We got the Shatterdome crew looking already, and it’s been made clear they’re to call us first. We need to be the first to find him too. This is as hinky as hell!”

“The media is not going to make it easy for us.” Mako said, “Newt… what can you tell us?” 

Newt took a deep breath. 

“I don’t know how Chuck survived the blast from Striker, but he did. I think that somehow, Chuck’s been possessed… his mind is now hosting another, one of the aliens from the Anteverse. He’s not in control, hell we don’t even know if he is still in there. I reckon we got a Precursor on the loose, probably figuring out a way to get another breach open.” 

“Chuck is still in there.” Herc tried to get up from the bed, but he stumbled. Mako caught and helped to steady him. 

“Then we’re the people who get can that thing out of him.” Newt wasn’t quite as confident as he was trying to be, even when he wrapped his arm around Herman’s shoulders and grinned. 

“We are?” asked Hermann. 

“Sure! We’re the K-Science bros! We can do this… somehow.” 

Probably. Probably not. They could certainly give it a try. 

A nurse suddenly rushed into the room. She looked extremely worried, panicked. 

“Marshal… Miss Mori? It’s Ranger Becket… I only turned away for a minute…he’s gone.”


	15. Beg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's not Chuck Hansen. He's someone else entirely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! 
> 
> Was supposed to have posted the chapter up this morning but I had to go out and I've only managed to get back home. Yay! 
> 
> This is a bit longer, I've noticed that my chapters are beginning to get longer again, but I don't think people mind to much, yeah? Also it's wee bit gory. A smidge. Maybe. 
> 
> Not beta'd but I hope you likes. Cheers again for everyone who leaves a comment and kudos. I appreciate what you guys think!
> 
> \-------

He couldn’t breathe. 

His body started to thrash, he tried to reach back up to the surface but the waves were dragging him back under. He was going to die. 

_No! No! This isn’t possible, this can’t happen!_

He must have passed out, for he never felt the arms grabbing hold of him and pulling him up to the surface. When consciousness came back to him, there was a mouth on his, breathing air into his lungs, forcing him to cough the water back up. After spluttering and gasping, Chuck realised that he wasn’t dead and that the woman--Kari-- was crouching over him. 

He was livid but he felt weak. His body was shivering from the cold, he could barely move and such weakness made him feel an insatiable urge to kill, but this body wasn’t doing what he wanted. 

He coughed some more, his lungs and throat hurt from the effort. He spat and heaved, he scrambled about on the sand in a disorientated frenzy, angry at his inability to get to his feet and stay standing.

“What…? What happened?” He flobbed out a mouth full of salty spit, blood and water.

“You nearly died!” said Mike kneeling down next to him and rubbing his back. “Why did you go in there? It’s not possible to breathe under water unless you got the right gear.”

“Can’t breathe under water? I could before!” 

“That’s not possible.” 

It was. It should be! He wasn’t anything like them. He was something superior and… they knew it. A look, a knowing glance exchanged between the couple, it was subtle but he noticed. They knew a lot more than they were letting on and he was going to find out what it was.

He breathed in deep a few times. The salty burn of the ocean’s water was still lingering in his mouth, which only made the sickening bile in his stomach feel worse. This was not how he was supposed to be feeling, this wasn’t part of the plan. It took him a while before he was feeling slightly better, but his anger was beginning to rage.

“Fuck this.” He turned sharply and grabbed Mike by his neck. In a quick motion, he had the other man flat on his back and was straddling his body, digging the nails of one of his hands in just enough to break the skin. The man struggled, he cried out and clawed at his hand, but the struggle was futile as his head was slammed down to the ground again and again. Kari tried to drag him off her partner, but a backhanded punch to her face knocked her down. 

“Who are you?!” He demanded, saliva spitting from his mouth. While still choking the man with one hand, Chuck clamped his other across his face and his thumb began to slowly press into Mike’s eye socket. “Why are you helping me?” 

“You’re Chuck Hansen!” Mike screamed. “Of Striker Eureka! You’re a hero, the Jaeger pilot who saved us all! How could we not help you?” 

“I am _NOT_ Chuck Hansen, so spare me the hero worship crap! Answer me correctly, or this…” He applied more pressure to the eye, pushing his thumb into the socket, “is going to get really unpleasant.” 

“Don’t! Please don’t!” Kari cried as Mike’s screams pitched to terrified howling and he started thrashing. She tried again to pull him off Mike, but she couldn’t manage it. “We only want what’s best for you!”

 _“What’s **best** for me? Do you want to know what’s best for me?”_

It took one scoop with his thumb to gouge out Mike’s eye before his fingers ripped it out completely. The sounds of painful and agonised wails were ignored, in fact he ignored Mike entirely and got up and approached Kira. She was sobbing, shaking with fear on her knees, desperate to go to her partner and help him, but she couldn’t move. He grabbed her hair and pulled her head back with a hard wrenching tug.

His eyes were black. They were void of any kind of humanity that Chuck Hansen once had. There was no Chuck. There was only him. 

_“Beg for your life and you might get to see.”_

She couldn’t. The word ‘please’ choked in her throat when he pressed Mike’s bloodied eyeball to her mouth. Kari moved her head, she thrashed from side to side to avoid being fed but he grabbed her chin and held her still as he forced the bloodied eye between her lips and into her mouth. She tried to spit it back out, but he clamped his hand down. 

_“BEG!”_

She could only sob and gag, spitting and spewing blood through the fingers that kept her mouth covered. Eventually she swallowed and he released his hand, ready to hear her begs and pleas for her life. She retched, but only the blood came back through her lips. Her tears streamed down her face and she tried to beg. Kari really tried. 

_“You're pathetic.”_

Before he could end her life, before he could snap her neck, his hand was wrenched away and a fist slammed into his stomach. 

“Chuck! What the hell are you doing?!”


	16. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chuck and Raleigh reunite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi ya! 
> 
> I was supposed to post this on Monday, but I ended up editing and changing things so much that I wasn't able to. I only hope this chapter will be more to people's liking... no gore, nothing ew. ;) 
> 
> Do enjoy and thank you to everyone who reads this. It means a great deal! 
> 
> Cheers! 
> 
> Again not beta'd, though I wish it was. Mistakes are all mine.
> 
> \------

“Chuck! What have you done?” 

Before ‘Chuck’ could recover from the punch to the stomach, Raleigh dragged him away from the woman, yanking him by his arm across the sand before throwing him down into the sea.

There was a click. He looked up and smiled. 

Raleigh Becket was aiming a gun at him. 

Raleigh Becket was pale, he was shaking, the gun in his hand was shaking as well, and a confliction of anger, horror and sadness contorted across his face. 

Raleigh was dressed in his blood stained jeans but the shirt he had been wearing was gone, revealing a ripped body mapped with beautiful scars. It was a human body, it couldn’t compare to the magnificence of his own… but seeing it, seeing Raleigh and the same scar they shared, it was making him… making Chuck’s body react again with burning hurting want. 

_Mmmmm._

“Chuck. What the hell is going on? What happened to you? What did you do to those people?” Raleigh pointed with his other hand at the sobbing and hysterical woman. Her partner had stopped moving and screaming. 

Chuck shrugged his shoulders. “Is he dead? Oh dear.” 

“You killed him!” 

“Yes. So?”

“You fucking killed him and those people at the hospital! Why?” 

_Why not? He deserved it. They all do. They’re vermin. You can kill her, if you’d like?_

There it was. A twitch of Raleigh’s head, the widening of Raleigh’s eyes… he had heard. So Raleigh wasn’t as in control as he thought. He had heard.

“No.” 

_No? Really? Is that all you have to say? Is this all you’re going to do? You’ve been here for two years and that human still has control over you?”_

“Chuck… stay back!” Raleigh didn't like him getting closer, he tightened his grip on the gun. Chuck had stood up and was approaching him, slowly stepping through the ripples of waves splashing around his feet, smiling as his thoughts easily filtered through into Raleigh’s mind. “We have to get you back to the Shatterdome. Newt and Hermann can help you! We can help you!” 

“They can help me? No. You can. Do you know what's inside you?” Chuck ran his bloodied fingers down the scar on his chest, smearing a watery red line across his skin. Raleigh pressed the gun to Chuck’s shoulder, he was still shaking and his eyes looked bloodshot and fatigued. “Stop resisting me!”

Chuck reached out and stroked his hand down Raleigh’s scar, slowly teasing downwards before pushing his fingers below the waistband of his jeans. 'Chuck' smiled as this body became aroused again; the alien sensations were intense and different from what he could feel with his own, but it was by no means less pleasurable. The feeling of Raleigh’s cock against his palm, hardening with every motion beneath the boxers, made ‘Chuck’ crave with want. He was in heat, he would any minute now go crazy with a lust for blood and sex that would be insatiable and violent. 

The things he wanted to do to this man…the images running through his mind, of what these humans could do to each other, was making him salivate. He never knew much about humans when he first awoke. 

Their language and everything he learnt about them came from Chuck Hansen. This delicious sexual depravity inside this head was because of him. 

He licked his lips and moved his hand past the fabric of Raleigh’s boxers, wrapping his fingers around warm throbbing flesh. He squeezed again, stroking, pumping and hardening the other man to the point that Raleigh swayed and grabbed onto his shoulder for support. 

“Chuck… please… no.” Raleigh closed his eyes and his jaw clenched as he tried to stifle a sexual groan from escaping his lips. He failed. 

The gun dropped from Raleigh’s hand, his forehead dropped against Chuck’s and he exclaimed a shuddering _‘fuck’_ into his neck. 

_“Can you sense what's going through that mind? Can you hear my thoughts? Does this feel… good?”_

His other hand caressed Raleigh’s face whilst he nuzzled around his around his neck and wound. He inhaled deeply and found that Raleigh Beckett was intoxicating… his sweat, his blood… it was euphoric. 

Raleigh allowed him to continue, he allowed Chuck’s mouth to skim along his jaw and touch his own, which made Raleigh nervously respond with a kiss back. It earned him a sharp bite to his bottom lip. 

_“Oh God…”_ Raleigh’s hand was clenching tightly onto one of Chuck’s ass cheeks. 

_No… Rayleigh! There’s just me._

Chuck squeezed harder. 

“NO!” 

Raleigh pulled away. His eyes shot open and his fist flew hard and fast into Chuck’s face.


	17. Surfacing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Take your breath away...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooops! Was supposed to post this up this morning, but I completely forgot. 
> 
> Have been trying to tweak this chapter this evening (and others) and I really hope this is okay.

So this was how it was going to be. 

Another fist impacted with his face. There was a momentary sting of pain which reverberated through his jaw and blood filled his mouth. The taste of it sent another high coursing through him and he couldn’t help but laugh. 

His laughter angered Raleigh who flurried blow after blow at Chuck, but they were easily blocked. It didn’t matter what Raleigh tried, Chuck never let any of his assaults land. Instead he simply repaid Raleigh with a slap to his face, or to his ass, spanking him like a naughty child. 

Raleigh didn’t like it. He was furious so he quickened his pace, but a pained sorrowful hurt showed in his eyes as he tried to land a punch. Chuck smirked.

The fight played out like a dance. They moved together, their motions were so fluid as they dodged and attacked, it could have been choreographed. Chuck’s playful slaps taunted Raleigh on, edging them closer to the sea. 

Raleigh’s fist caught a lucky blow to Chuck’s jaw, how neither of them knew but blood poured from Chuck's mouth and suddenly images flashed before his eyes. A memory. 

_“Yeah! That’s right! You just hold your girlfriend back! One of you bitches needs a leash! ”_

The young Chuck Hansen had lost a fight against this man. He’d been humiliated he was defeated so easily. The anger, resentment and lust had conflicted, the boy wanted to hate Raleigh Becket, but when he was pinned beneath him, he barely restrained himself from acting upon the lurid fantasies he’d always had of the other ranger. 

_“All right! That’s enough! On your feet, both of you!”_

If Hercules Hansen hadn't pulled them apart... 

Now the tables had turned. Raleigh was the one who couldn’t control his emotions, he was the one in conflict and his moves were so predictable. This was no contest, he could easily kill Raleigh with one move, but he could do something much better than that. The memory told him that, the way this body was aching was telling him now. 

It was a shame they had these bodies… it wouldn’t be the same. But still… 

He ducked one of Raleigh's swings, grabbed him by the throat and pulled his arm up behind his back, just enough to make a breathy hiss of pain seethe from Raleigh’s mouth. It took some effort, Chuck wasn’t at his peak after nearly drowning, his limbs were aching. He managed to unbalance Raleigh, Chuck swept his legs out from underneath him, turned him around and slammed him on his back to the sand. Chuck dropped down and straddled him, tightening his hand around Raleigh’s neck, cutting off his air. 

Raleigh tried to tear Chuck’s hand away. He bucked and thrashed, he struggled desperately against Chuck to try and throw him off, but a simultaneous tight squeeze of Chuck’s hand on his throat and a hard grind against his groin made him falter. Raleigh lost all resistance. 

Chuck ground upon him again and again, listening to the suffocating gasps for breath and the ecstatic whine as Raleigh’s body arched into him. He was hard, they both were, the friction of their bodies and clothes was burning pleasurable jolts all over him, giving him sensations that he’d never felt before in his own form. 

_Give me what I want, Rayleigh. Let go….give it up!_

Chuck’s hand let go of his throat. Raleigh heaved and panted for the air, he coughed, spluttered and wheezed, but there was no denying the hazy blissed out look in his eyes… 

_Stop resisting me! Let him out!_

Denim jeans were torn, ripped down and pulled off. 

Chuck parted Raleigh’s legs and wrapped them around his waist. Raleigh’s naked body was shaking, bloodshot eyes stared up in fear as Chuck clamped one hand down on his throat and the other around Raleigh’s cock. 

Chuck squeezed with both hands and watched the life slowly drain away from the vermin human. 

_“Come on out!”_

_Stop resisting!_

Raleigh couldn’t resist any more. 

He came and took his last breath. 

His eyes blackened.


	18. Loyal Servant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new arrival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey hey. Sorry again this wasn't posted up earlier... I had to make some major changes. But it's all done now.  
> Not beta'd so all mistakes are my own. 
> 
> Enjoy.
> 
> \------

Two years. He’d been locked in a prison for two whole years. 

Now it was his turn. 

He woke upon the beach, gasping for breath. 

He was naked. Raleigh’s body ached with pleasure, he convulsed, he spilled, warm wetness dripped over his abdomen with every shuddering and euphoric jolt of his hips. He was dazed but felt great, especially when the warm weight of the other lay on top of him, when a hand and fingers deftly rubbed his ass. 

He reached up, brought the face down close to him and received a kiss to his trembling mouth. The fingers began to play. As two digits teased and pushed at his hole, as they slipped up inside… the tightness, the pain made him moan. Raleigh’s face scrunched up at the pain, he bit his lip and clenched his fists into a mass of brown reddish hair. The two fingers became three… they pushed deeper, despite him clenching. They began to thrust.

He didn’t know what came out of his mouth with the saliva, words or sounds… it was gibberish. He couldn’t focus. 

He could smell his Elder. In among the vermin scents wafting from the naked body on top of him, there was one that was distinct, powerful and very different. It was the one that demanded his attention, demanded his reverence. It was a scent that he had to react to. He was in heat, how could he not be? 

He dragged his face around the Elder’s host’s neck, inhaling the aroma of him, feeling the power ebbing from this body. More gibberish, promises and begs came from his mouth, he bucked against the fingers, he kissed with need against a mouth, tasting blood so sweet that he keened. 

The blood was delicious. Vermin blood shouldn’t taste like this. 

Sex shouldn’t be like this either. It should be more… there should be a thousand more sensations on top of this, heightened and furious. There should be more blood. 

He could die. To be like this with an Elder… most of their kind did die after being taken to the brink of such bliss. 

_It’s okay. I’m here now. I’m here to look after you._

_That’s not how it’s supposed to be. You are everything…_

There was a smile shining down on him, the most glorious and beautiful smile he had ever seen. He was lost, enraptured by his Elder… he was where he was supposed to be. As the pumping thrusts continued, he dropped his head down to the shoulder of his Elder… the blood was making him high… he had to have more. 

It took one bite and the red gushed into mouth. 

He cried out, a hard thrust inside him nearly ripped him apart. A mouth crushed against his, it smeared and drooled blood over his face, a tongue lapped along his jaw and slipped between his lips. 

There was a click. 

The fingers slipped out and he turned his head. 

The woman was sobbing. The gun in her hand was shaking, blood and vomit was dripping down her chin and over her body. She was going to kill them. Or she thought she was going to. 

Raleigh and Chuck slipped apart and they rose to their feet. Black eyes smiled. Bloody lips grinned and they approached her. 

He wiped Raleigh's mouth with the back of his hand and before she could even pull the trigger, his fingers clawed and ripped her throat out. Her blood sprayed him in the face and she dropped to the sand with a wet satisfying thud. 

He was ever the loyal servant. His Elder was the first of his kind and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for him. 

He was going to cull this world and then the others could finally come across.


	19. The Human Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What else is there to do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Sorry I never posted this up yesterday, work has been a nightmare and I'm shattered! But I hope that this will be okay... heee! Tis quite... graphic me thinks. 
> 
> Not beta'd but please do enjoy! XD 
> 
> \------

There was red. It soaked the sand and their skin. The body jerked, the blood gushed from the torn throat and when he knelt down and dipped his fingers into the flow, it was hot… warm. 

Vermin were only good dead. Eventually, he would be rid of this body too and find a way back to his own. 

A hand grabbed a fistful of Raleigh’s hair and pulled his head back. He looked up at his Elder and genuine concern came over him. He turned around to face him. 

Chuck was sweating. It was dripping and pouring off him. He was panting, disorientated and unsteady on his feet. He was burning up. 

_Now!_

On bended knees he worshiped Chuck and he took everything he was given. The thick hard cock thrusting into his mouth choked him, it made his eyes water and saliva drool from the sides of his mouth. It filled him with an intoxicating taste that made him cling and sag against Chuck, digging his nails so hard into clenched ass cheeks that it drew blood. 

These shells were incapable of experiencing what his kind could… but right now, it would have to do. 

Raleigh’s hair was pulled, tugged and ripped, the trusting pounds got harder and faster to his face and he could barely breathe, but he looked up and through the tears streaming down his face, he saw the fierce grimace of pleasure on Chuck’s face. 

He would have gladly had his brains fucked out, he would have willingly died, as what was expected with any of his order when an Elder chose them, but Chuck extracted, shoved Raleigh to his back and climbed on top of him. 

Raleigh’s legs were spread apart and his ass filled with a girth that ripped him up. It wasn’t gentle, there was nothing to help ease or numb the pain and he never expected it. He bore it all, he took every thick inch, every heavy thrust but he couldn’t retaliate. He could do nothing except look up at Chuck… at his Elder as he was rapidly pummeled with rage and lust. 

A hand wrapped around his throat and again it began to squeeze. It began to choke the life out of him, but just as he thought he was about to die from lack of air, along with the pleasure and pain pounding into this body, there was a howling scream in his mind, and Chuck emptied, came into him and collapsed. 

His Elder was trembling and shaking like he had never seen before. He looked so vulnerable, he looked as weak and frail as a new hatchling. When he was able to…when he found the strength to, he wrapped Raleigh’s arms around Chuck and held him. 

Chuck smiled. A surprisingly gentle kiss pressed and lingered against his mouth and fingers stroked lovingly at Raleigh's face. 

_Thank you._


	20. In the Presence of Gods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Help comes when you least expect it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this progresses the plot a little bit. Maybe a tad. So not beta'd.
> 
> Do enjoy folks. 
> 
> Again (and always) thanks to those who are following this story. Mwah!
> 
> \------

_No sleep. No rest. Get up. Get up!_

More than anything, they wanted to sleep, but they knew how dangerous it was and what could happen. This beach was far too open and exposed, which was something that hadn’t bothered them before or had been on their minds when they’d reunited. All that mattered was they were together. 

They were a mess. Covered in the vermin’s excretions, they were weak and vulnerable here, so ‘Chuck’ did his best to get up. He helped Raleigh to his feet, but they were unsteady, they stumbled and crashed to their hands and knees. Supporting him wasn’t easy. He had torn up the young thing, who was even weaker, frailer than him. 

Taking his weight as much as he could, 'Chuck' helped the young one back to the edge of the sea. They dropped into the water and 'Chuck' began to clean himself, washing away the blood, wincing when he grazed the deep bite mark on his shoulder, which was still seeping. He then washed Raleigh. 

Whilst the waves did wash away some of the blood, Chuck used his hands to rub across Raleigh’s marred skin and rinsed the rest of the blood away. His fingers traced over the ‘drive-suit’ scars and the bite wound, but he lingered over the main scar down Raleigh’s middle. 

It had taken a lot to get here. The young thing had escaped, he did what he had to do to survive and he was glad that he did. They were going to do wonderful things together and it was going to start with the destruction of this world. 

The sea was refreshing. Eventually the blood washed away and as they held each other, a curious sensation of contentment and satisfaction overcame Chuck. He didn’t want to move and with the way Raleigh clung to him, trembling, it seemed he didn’t want to either. The drowsiness came back and they both longed to close their eyes and sleep but there was movement on the beach, someone else was there with them.

He turned and he tensed. Anger welled up in him as he saw armed men in dark blood-red suits approach them. There were many, led by an Asian woman dressed in elaborate robes of red and black. She wore an oval headdress, underneath from which poked some braids of bright red hair. 

“Good evening, my lords” The woman’s voice was soft but was somehow tinged with menace. “We have warm clothing for you, along with some food and drink. We also have shelter where you can rest and revitalise, where you can be safe.”

The woman was unafraid as she approached. For a human, she had a remarkable strength about her. The way the men in suits surrounded her, protected her, it was clear this vermin was someone powerful amongst her kind. 

She beckoned with a slight gesture of her hand and other men, dressed in robes similar to hers but plainer, appeared from behind the suits with offerings of food and drink, and with clothes. 

“Who are you?” Chuck’s voice drawled with spite and detest. 

“Who am I?” An insincere and disturbing smile crept across the woman’s face as she held her arms out wide to the others behind her. “My lords… _we_ are the BuenaKai. We’ve been waiting for you. We’ve come to help you.” 

“Help us? Help us how?”

The woman went down on one bended knee and looked at Chuck with adoration. Every single one of the men behind her, did the same. 

“To cleanse the world, my lord. What else?”


	21. Nobody Sleeps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hunt for Chuck and Raleigh begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey hey! Big huge thanks to the folks reading and commenting! It's awesome to know that people are enjoying this and it certainly spurs me on to write more and more! 
> 
> The plot is moving on now... while I have several chapters already written up, I'm tweaking little bits here and there. 
> 
> So here is the next chapter... do enjoy and feel free to lemme know what you think! 
> 
> Not beta'd. All mistakes are mine. 
> 
> \-----

They got as far as the entrance of the hospital before they were stopped. 

Two high ranking officers and armed escorts stood in Herc’s way. With them here, blocking them, Mako feared that their search for Raleigh and Chuck would be put to an end before it could begin. 

“Marshal Hansen, we need you to come with us,” said one of the officers, “the Sectary-General wants to speak with you.” 

Herc didn’t seem to hear them, or care that they were even there. He went to go around them and to get to the door, but the two officers stepped back into his path and the armed escorts lifted their weapons. Herc gave them a look that said _‘You’re fucking kidding me, right?’_ and tried again, but this time one of the armed escorts held his hand up and pushed against his shoulder. 

Herc pushed him back. They scuffled, Herc even popped a blow to the younger man’s face, but he stopped when the other officer barked an order that years of training could never ignore. 

“Stand down!”

Herc’s body stiffened. Mako could see the desperation in his eyes and that he badly wanted to go against his military conditioning. His square stubbled jaw was clenched tight and she could hear his teeth grinding. 

“You are coming with us, now. It is not a request.” 

“With all due respect, the only place I’m going is out there.” Herc was trying to keep a respectful tone in his voice, but that too was strained. “I’m going to find my son.” 

“There are people already doing so, Marshal. We understand that you’re desperate to find your son, any father would be. I know I would. This has gone beyond just you and Chuck. The Sectary General, the UN… the Prime Minister and the President of the US are wanting answers and they’re not the only ones. We need your intel on this. Our orders are to bring you in.” 

“I won’t know anything until Chuck is found, besides why didn’t I get this kind of a response from Kreiger before? When I _needed_ it! I called him and every contact I had… that Pentecost left to me! I called as many as I could and I got nothing! Nothing! When I wanted to see my son, I was refused and I got squat! Not a bloody peep from up above! You wanna know why? Because those bastards that were ‘interviewing’ Chuck were not any of our lot… they were not military. Who the hell got Doctor Geiszler to assess Chuck before I even got a glimpse of him?” 

“Marshal, that is not our…” 

“Someone has gone over the PPDC’s heads, haven’t they? Over the UN’s. Now you wanna tell me who has that kind of power?” 

“Let’s not discuss this here. The quicker we get this over with, the quicker we can help Chuck.” 

“Sorry, no. I’m finding Chuck first. I’m going to find him before anyone else, before _they do._ I won’t lose him again, not when I just got him back!” 

“This is an order, Marshal… please, don’t make us use force.” 

Herc would have gladly made them use force. The snarl and look of utter disapproval upon his face said clearly, that he would happily disobey this ‘order’ and deck them all, he would risk court-martial if it meant he could go and look for Chuck. 

But Mako didn’t want that for him. She stood by him and gently wrapped her hand around his clenched fist. She thought she actually heard his neck snap he turned to her so quickly. Herc’s eyes widened with shock and they looked down as Mako pulled his fingers out to hold his hand properly. 

“It’s okay, Marshal Hansen. Tendo-san and I will continue to look. You can trust us, yes? And Raleigh too?” 

She stroked her thumb over the back of his knuckles and got a squeeze back from the older Hansen. He was afraid, but when Mako lightly pressed her hand to his back and stroked, she felt some of his tension fade, if only a little. She saw that he understood. 

“Go with them. We will keep you informed of what’s going on.” 

Herc sighed and nodded in agreement, before letting Mako go and following the officers and their armed escorts out of the hospital. 

“Nice going, Miss Mori.” Tendo said, once the two of them stepped outside to the street. They watched Herc get into the back of a government car which drove off through all of the crowds. “What do we do now?” 

“You go back to the Shatterdome and co-ordinate things from there. I will find Raleigh and Chuck.”

“After what Chuck did…?” Tendo gestured to the still panicked civilians around them. “No…”

“I will not take no for an answer, Tendo-san. Newt and Hermann are already starting their investigation. I will do mine. Someone needs to be at the dome, someone also needs to look out for Marshal Hansen.. for Herc.” 

“That’ll be me, then. Consider it done, Mako, but please, be careful.” 

Tendo gave her a bow, to which she returned and he walked away. 

Mako took a brief moment to look at the despair ‘Chuck’ had brought, but when the flashing lights of all the police cars and the press’ cameras got too much for her, she headed out. 

Raleigh was gone. She had to find him, because without a doubt in her mind, where she would find Raleigh, she would find Chuck Hansen. 

She wasn't going to get any sleep tonight. Nobody was.


	22. Tell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako searches for Chuck and Raleigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone. Here's some more to enjoy! More Mako Mori, which is always a good thing! 
> 
> I don't know much about Sydney, where everything is or located etc (one day I would love to go there) so I hope what I've written in this is okay. 
> 
> Thanks as always for the kudos and comments! 
> 
> \-----

Sydney had once been a great city. To some who lived in it, it still was. 

When Scissure attacked, Sydney was decimated, but the nuclear missiles did far worse. Half of Sydney was destroyed and countless people lost their lives. 

While some of the city had been rebuilt, the area where Scissure had fallen remained in ruins and was an inhospitable place to go. The only place that thrived there was the temple, built around a mass of slums and derelicts that the poor and homeless, where the desperate, took shelter. Not much was physically left of Scissure, but the BuenaKai still built there, despite the risks. The Kaiju blood and radiation had been cleaned up as much as possible, but what lingered was still dangerous. 

The wall that had been built was supposed to have to kept out further Kaiju, but it was also to separate the healthy parts of the city from the weak and diseased. From the BuenaKai. 

But the BuenaKai… they had to go and turn the left overs of Mutavore’s corpse into a shrine. It was their way of laughing at the blasphemers, at the sinners who thought the Kaiju could be stopped by a wall, or by anything. While Striker Eureka had brought Mutavore down, the religious nuts were able to turn the skull into one of their churches, which made them even more unpopular. 

The public kept away from them, preferring to ignore this Kaiju cult, even when their followers were out and about trying to spread their propaganda. Every country had its BuenaKai sects, but here in Australia, they were hardly seen. They only made their voices known when they needed to and now, as Mako stood by the blockade, was one of those times. 

Ever since Chuck came out from the ocean, the beach had been sealed off. Not many people went there anymore, the fear of the Kaiju and the blue contamination had seen to that, but the fact that no one could get through at all, was more than suspicious. 

The army were steadfast, they had orders to keep civilians back and they did, making sure no one could get a glimpse of what was going on there. They even kept her back. 

Everyone knew who she was, but Mako’s fame of being Gypsy’s pilot didn’t make her an exception to their orders. After her first and second attempts to try and be let through were thwarted was when the man approached her. 

It didn’t take a genius to know he was BuenaKai. He wasn’t wearing the red robes that so many of the Hong Kong followers like to flaunt, (though there were a few robed monks close by who were talking to the press) it was the disgust in his eyes when he looked at her, the false smile upon his face and the dripping and sickening insincere pleasantness in his native Australian accent that clued Mako in. 

“Miss Mori.” The man bowed. Mako just nodded her head in response. “You seem lost and alone. Are you looking for someone? For Ranger Hansen perhaps?”

“Are you offering to help…?” 

“Everything happens for a reason, Miss Mori. Young Chuck Hansen has played his part… as did you and this is the result. You have all sinned and gone against the gods, you interrupted their work by using the heathen Jaegers against them. If he is meant to be found… if the gods wish it, he will be found, but not by you. Unless you wish to repent? To ask forgiveness for your sins?” 

Mako couldn’t help but smile. She lowered her eyes and spoke softly as she bowed her head down. 

“That sounds like a lovely offer, but I must respectfully decline. However, you might want to consider taking your own advice¸ if the BuenaKai want to find Chuck as well.” 

She kept her head down, but her eyes peeked up and through her blue bangs. 

There. 

The reaction was minute. Small. 

Anyone else would have missed this tell, the twitch in the man’s eye, but Mako didn’t. It was a tell that gave her everything she needed to know. 

The BuenaKai already had Chuck. 

“Domo arigatou.” Mako turned away. She didn’t want to talk to him anymore. 

She knew where she had to go.


	23. Another World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's never been to another world before...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. Here is another chapter for you! 
> 
> This one came about thanks to a song. (Yeah yeah!) It was always one of my favourite songs, but listening to it inspired this and helped me out of a small tiny writer's block phase, plot wise. 
> 
> It's called Another World by Skew Siskin. I recommend you listen to it. Yes it's 12mins long but trust me, it's great!!
> 
> This is a little more on the Precursors. Not beta'd but I hope you like. 
> 
> \-------

He was born insane. He was one of many. 

He emerged from his egg along with thousands of others and with only one desire running through his mind. Feed. 

He wasn’t long in his world when he had to go to another, burrowing through metal before clawing through flesh and blood. The being was one, but they were many, determined to find out what it was that had been hidden inside the metal giant about to destroy them. 

It was small… it was vermin…it was beneath him and his kind but where the others thought it nothing, he was curious. 

There was intelligence, inferior, but it was there. He saw what this thing intended to do and what it meant for those on the other side. He wanted to kill it, just like all his kin did, but if this vermin was able to close the bridge to the other world, the Elder would be cut off… he wouldn’t be able to be with the one who had made them what they were. 

He did the unthinkable and the hive mind reeled against him until the moment he got inside. When it was clear he would be the only one to survive… they screamed out for him, they helped him achieve this goal before they died. 

There had been agony. He was cut off. 

The alien mind was alone. Sort of. 

It only had two other voices in its tiny little mind, unlike the millions he was used to. One was like a ghost…faint, but always there. The other was recent, new and strangely comforting, but there was no rest for him, only resistance. The vermin fought him from the moment he shed his body and crept inside its head… it was stronger than he ever thought.

_What are you? What kind of a creature are you?_

The other world was extreme. He had never experienced anything like it before, the dulled senses, the alien pain and feelings, it was so strange. Still he struggled, he fought for dominance over this vermin… the… what did they call themselves? Human. 

He endured the other world and this other body and he remained as strong as he could. 

_Raleigh._

The thing had a name. The thing was an individual, it was one and wasn’t connected to millions of others. Only when it slept, was he able to gain control. The Raleigh thing didn’t know what it did or why it woke up in strange places. Sleepwalking. That’s what they attested it to… whatever that was. 

He learnt the language, he learnt everything there was to know about these humans through memories it had. They were the ones who dominated this world and they were the ones who were stopping his kind from taking over. 

He wasn’t going to let that happen. 

He was alone. There were none of his kind… until… a powerful call fired his (Raleigh’s?) blood. An Elder. _The_ Elder. 

_I can't sleep._

_I'm out of touch, I'm out of mind. I'm out of sight, I'm out of time._

_Aaaaahhhh, I feel all right. I feel so fine, I feel good._

_I feel all right._

_Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!_

_Push! Push! Push! Push! Push! Push! Push! Push!_

When he woke, he was in a room, covered in blood and with eviscerated bodies all around him. This body was weak. He was on his knees clinging to the other human, the one who hosted his beloved Elder. 

He was born insane, but that was nothing compared to the one who inhabited the body of the one the humans called Chuck Hansen.


	24. Stay Awake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A ghost drift becomes much more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi peeps. 
> 
> Here's the next chapter. Not beta'd. 
> 
> Always thanks to those who are reading and following. Huge thank yous to those who comment and kudos! You are all amazing! x 
> 
> \----

He got into the car and it was far too comfy.

Herc needed to find his son, but the fatigue, he didn’t realise he had, took over as soon as his arse sunk onto the back seat. 

The gentle motions of the car and the blur of the streets going by, made his eyes droop and before he knew it, he dozed off to sleep. 

He began to dream of better times, when Chuck was a child, when his beloved Angela was still alive. He dreamt of his boy’s laughter, of his wife’s loving touch. He dreamt of Chuck’s infectious smiles, especially of those dimples on his cheeks as well as his insatiable thirst for knowledge. When Chuck was six years old his eagerness to learn anything and everything often got to the point of infuriating Herc, but Angela had been there to calm them both down. She had always managed to sate their tempers and made things better.

Chuck had been so full of hope and joy back then and Herc had been the same, for he knew that his son would have a great future, that he could be great and do amazing things. He was so proud. He loved him so much. He loved his wife as well. Chuck had her eyes and her smile…when she died… when he let her die… he became broken and the bond he shared with his son shattered into pieces. Herc missed her terribly...

The dream took a turn for the worst. 

Was it a dream? 

Chuck was crying in chilling agony, with a terror that Herc could feel as if it was his own. He was screaming… or was it Chuck? He couldn’t tell. The memories intermixed with his own and the screams didn't stop. 

Inhuman sounds, squeals rung in his ears along with Chuck’s voice that kept calling out for him— _oh god, what have I done? Dad! I’ve killed them… I’ve killed those people!_ —he was screaming for help. 

It wasn’t a dream. 

The Ghost drift was strong, almost as if they were still connected somehow, but it was impossible. This level of drifting without a conn-pod wasn’t…physically….

 _He was attached to some kind of machine, hundreds of cold metal needles punctured every part of him and those needles were on the end of strings of muscle that suspended him from the machine above._

_Insect like beings surrounded him, 12ft creatures with huge crested skulls and translucent exteriors that showed their internal organs. They skittered in and out of his focus and as they did so, he heard their wings buzzing like wasps and the clicking of pincers on both sets of arms._

_But there was one much bigger… in the background, slowly circling around the others as they worked. It watched as the others tore at his flesh…opening him up and probing inside. He was still awake, they were making him stay awake so he could feel everything._

_When he thought he was going to die, they stopped and sealed him back up. They burned him closed, leaving a searing mark down his chest. They moved away and a clawed hand covered his head. Sharp points bore against his head and then a set of teeth covered his face and bit down._

_“Make me stop! Make me stop this! Please…. Oh god….dad… help me! I can’t stop him, I can’t….there’s so much fucking blood!”_

_“Raleigh! Oh shit… oh fuck… Raleigh! Not like this… I never meant for this to happen… not ever like this! Dad… help me, please? I’m going to kill him…I can’t do that to him, make me stop! Make me stop! I’m begging you!”_

The door of the car flew open. 

Herc fell out and crashed to the ground and curled up into a foetal position whilst his fingers clawed and pulled at his hair. 

He didn’t hear the other men calling out to see if he was okay. He didn’t feel their hands trying to help him. 

There was only Chuck.


	25. Doubting the Gods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Momentary loss of faith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey hey! 
> 
> This chapter takes place at the same time as Another World... 
> 
> Do enjoy. Oh and the views of the BuenaKai are NOT mine! (Well that's bloody obvious)
> 
> \----

Not many were happy with her decision, but when was the Mother ever wrong? 

The men were two of the biggest blasphemers they knew, they were everything sinful and wrong in this world. When the Sister saw what they were doing on the beach, a part of her wanted to go to the Mother and demand an explanation. The sodomy Sister witnessed was vile and sickening, it was against nature, how could these men possibly be their gods if they did such things to each other? 

Dutifully, Sister did as the Mother instructed, but she had doubts. Serious doubts. 

The Black Veils washed the naked men down and treated their wounds. Their disgust was evident as they never touched them directly. Their gloved hands pressed wet cloths and sponges to the men’s skin, and while they were revering in their ministrations, their body language showed what their hidden faces could not. They were not pleased, especially with the way Ranger Becket lay on his side with his head rested in Hansen's lap. Fatigue had taken over Becket and his eyes closed, but as he slept, his arms clung to Chuck, who in return, held him protectively. The hisses and murmurs of revulsion from the Black Veils were ignored. 

Chuck never noticed they were there. His body never twitched in response to his cuts and bites being cleansed, though Raleigh’s did, so he’d caressed Raleigh’s hair, soothing him and comforting him, as he glared at Sister like she was excrement. 

Was he judging her? 

“I know who you are.” he'd said. 

But who are you? 

Sister wanted to ask, she wanted to know more about the Precursors inside those men and why they were like this but he answered none of her questions. 

After they had finished, the Black Veils and monks escorted them to somewhere more comfortable, where food and beds waited for them. Mother wanted the best treatment for these heathens... she had wanted no harm to to befall them. 

Chuck had carried Raleigh himself. He had scooped Raleigh up in his arms and carried him all the way to the other part of the temple, even though he was tired himself. He’d lain Raleigh on the bed and—much to Sister’s further annoyance—curled up beside him on the same bed, spooned him, encased him with his arms and legs and he remained awake. 

Sister then made a mistake. 

She made the monks tell Chuck that he couldn’t lie with the other man, that it was wrong. It was a sin and disgusting.

Sister could only watch as his rage exploded and the Black Veils and monks in the room were brutally eviscerated by Chuck’s bare hands. 

“Do you think you’re different from everyone else in this world?” Chuck yelled, looking at Sister with black demon eyes and blood dripping from his hands. When Raleigh had woken up screaming, Chuck embraced him against his body. “You think that just because your cult reveres my kind that you’re somehow exempt? No… you won’t get to live. You’ll just get to die last!” 

When Sister had told Mother this, the old woman had just smiled. 

“I know.”


	26. Back-Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He was going to be Mako's back-up. Is the new Jaeger going to be everyone else's?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot is really moving along now! 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who is reading! It's really helping me to keep writing! xx Mwah! Enjoy!
> 
> \------

“Mako! No…don’t! Don’t go there… wait for me!” Tendo dodged a speeding fork-lift and then had to narrowly avoid colliding with a j-tech, but he did hit the wall, jarring his shoulder. The pain didn’t matter, not after what he had heard on the phone. “Mako, it’s a ridiculous idea! The BuenaKai are dangerous! Don’t go in alone! I’ll be along with some back-up and we can get Chuck together!” 

The call was cut but not until after Mako said she wasn’t waiting. 

Tendo wasn’t going to let her go into the Scissure slums and the BuenaKai temple on her own. He wished he hadn’t left her to begin with. Someone had to be here to oversee the Shatterdome and the nearly completed Mark VI Jaeger standing in the bay, but now Tendo had got things covered, he was going back out after Mako. 

As he rushed to meet the security team, it was impossible to not look at the metal colossus. He paused for only a few seconds to take in its majesty. 

Before Chuck came back, the possibility of further breaches wasn’t ruled out. It could never be ruled out if Tendo thought about it. So the funding was given to start building them again. 

So far only two Jaegers were near completion. One was in Hong Kong and the second was here in Sydney…Herc had personally overseen its construction. 

Neither of the Jaegers had a name yet. 

It was strange that Tendo, or indeed anyone, couldn’t think of one for the Aussie’s creation. Herc’s influence in the design was evident, it was a lot like Striker Eureka, larger in height, broader in the shoulders, but sleeker in the body. It was going to be fast, fierce and powerful, more so than Striker Eureka had ever been. The dark green and black colours were menacing, vengeful. It looked angry. It was angry. Tendo could feel it radiating off the thing. 

This Jaeger was a dedication to Chuck. You couldn’t look at this giant without thinking of him and the pain of grief Herc felt for his son. This Jaeger was beautiful, but it scared Tendo. 

Tendo climbed into one of the jeeps with the security team and bowed his head. 

In the pit of his stomach, something churned with fear. 

He had this silly hope that the Jaegers wouldn’t be needed, but Tendo knew that they would and two of the four pilots with experience… were missing and possessed. The other candidates were still not ready. 

Tendo wasn’t going to let Mako get hurt.


	27. Slumming It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bone slums of Sydney...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little chapter this time... still hope peeps likes.

It was eerie how much the Scissure bone slums were like the ones in Hong Kong. Shanties were built around what little remained of the kaiju, most of which were empty except for the criminal, and desperate and hopeless, those who had no option but to live in this squalor. Some of Sydney’s taller buildings were still standing, but again in ruin…broken and crumbling. 

It was a maze. Mako didn’t know this place well and navigating through the streets at this time of night was frightening, but she swallowed that fear and continued on. Mako pulled the hood of her coat over her head and moved swiftly and cautiously, ignoring the calls from some of the drunks, to the temple.

The only light in these slums came from small fires, torches and lanterns that barely lit up the thick black gloom, but the temple lights shone upwards, like beacons, drawing people to the one place of hope. Supposedly. The temple here was not as glamorous or majestic as the ones in Hong Kong, though Mako couldn’t deny how beautiful it was. But something being beautiful didn’t mean it was good. 

She approached the steps, made from some of Scissure’s bones, but stopped when two Black Veils blocked the entrance. 

They didn’t say a word. The Black Veils never did, they never had to, because their body language and their actions said everything for them. They were not going to let her pass. 

She knew Chuck was in there and the longer she stood starring at the Black Veils, the more they confirmed it. 

“Is Raleigh in there too?” 

Mako smiled when Tendo asked her the question but her eyes never looked away from the Black Veils when he stood by her side. 

Yes. He was. 

Mako wasn’t going to go anywhere.


	28. Do this for me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He doesn't want to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello peeps! 
> 
> It has been a while since I posted my last chapter... well it's a smidge late as I've added more to it and it's become longer than the other chapters. Still hope those who are reading and following will enjoy this. 
> 
> Thank you to all of you! 
> 
> Not beta'd so apologies. 
> 
> \--------

_“I want you to leave.”_

No. That was not going to happen.

“Someone has to look after you.”

The conversation the Elder was having with the Sister stopped and he turned. The grimacing smile crept across Chuck Hansen’s face. The Elder was amused, but he was also pissed off. 

It didn’t matter. Raleigh--he hadn’t called himself anything except this human name in his isolation—was prowling. He was pacing up and down the room, his weak legs barely keeping him upright as he warded off the monks and other sisters from getting too close to the Elder. He scowled at them, which was enough to make them back away. 

It was a good thing they did. He’d be mopping up more remains if they did. He was aching to lash out at them.

_“There’s no other way to do this. You’re the only one who can get us there. You’re the one who knows how these…these things work. Besides, they know what I am.”_

“These things disgust me.” Raleigh said, not caring that he offended some more curious BuenaKai that passed by the door, “I’ve spent two years inside this human… most of my life I’ve been encased in this inferior slab of meat. I’ve tried… I’ve tried so hard to control it and I couldn’t until you came along.” 

“Leave.” The charming smile of Chuck Hansen looked to Sister and the monks, but when they didn’t move, the face darkened to a furious grimace and his voice erupted an order that had them running to the exit. “GET OUT!”

The door nearly fell off its hinges when the Elder slammed it shut. Raleigh didn’t know what was going on, more so when he was shoved up against the wall, he could feel spit hissing on his face. A hand grabbed his hip forcefully and nails painfully dug through his skin. 

_“You are barely over two years old! I have lived for millennia! I’ve spawned over thousands of our colonies, but not one of the low lives EVER fought back like these have. Do you think it was easy for me to take this body? That I wanted to?”_

Fingers clenched and pulled at the short blonde hairs on Raleigh’s head. Lips and teeth grazed roughly across his throat and along his jaw, biting and tearing at his skin. The voice in his mind continued its angry rant and at the same time the robe that had been wrapped around his waist slipped away and Chuck’s body pressed against his own. 

_“This… what you’re feeling…is nothing!”_

It felt more than nothing when a palm and fingers grabbed and squeezed hard at his balls. It was more than nothing when he was kissed with a ravenous and hurtful mouth. The fluctuating pulses of ecstasy ebbed over him as Chuck’s palm worked him viciously to hardness and he shook, uncontrollably as the mouth tore from his and began to tear and scrape over Raleigh’s body, sinking lower and lower. 

_“You have only known what we can do through the hive mind… there should be more. You should experience it one day…you should know what I could do to you.”_

He knew. He knew from the moment he was born just what the Elders were capable of. When he connected with the hive and all those minds, all those memories, joined with his own. There should be more… but Raleigh Becket was all he had experienced. 

All he had known and underwent were the women Raleigh had been with… the one night stands the man kept having to avoid the nightmares…to avoid him. 

That was until the beach. 

_“I want to get back to my body, but this boy I’m in… his thoughts and feelings are keeping me in a heat that I can’t purge! He’s been dreaming for years of doing this. He’s besotted with that slab of meat you’re in. He’s lusted after him… had his first sodden dreams of him… but he’s afraid and restricted by the limits of his mind and singular sex. You are being limited by Becket’s, but I know what you are, what you were born to be…”_

A tongue flicked against the head of Raleigh’s cock, making him judder. When he was swallowed into a warm salivating mouth, sucked and reduced to a gibbering mess, his hands clung to Chuck’s head. He tried to stay standing but his legs were shaking too much. 

_“I will not be subject to these vermin any more… I want you to leave… can you do that for me?”_

“Y-yes.” He nearly fell, but the Elder kept him up, smashing him forcefully into the wall as he sucked harder and quicker. 

_“Will you do what needs to be done?”_

“Yes! Yes, I will! Yes… yes…yes…” The word kept stammering from his mouth, along spurts of drool and aching groans. When he finally felt himself release, the word ‘yes’ melted into incomprehensible vocalisations and panting breaths and he dropped to the floor in a quaking heap. 

It took Raleigh a while before he was able to open his eyes and he saw Chuck walking away from him, wiping the come from his mouth with the back of his hand. 

“Good boy. Don’t disappoint me. Our race depends on us.”


	29. Mako Raleigh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako takes action. Or is it really her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings again people! 
> 
> It has been another while since I posted, but this is mainly because I'm working on my other projects at the mo. I have a Primeval Secret Santa to finish and plus my Marvel OTP is just taking over! Can't get enough of them! 
> 
> Anyhoos, here is the next chapter. Not sure if its my best, but we shall see. Hope you enjoy. Not beta'd.
> 
> \-------

It wasn’t that she was getting impatient, well… maybe a bit, but the waiting, the silence had lingered on for far too long. Even though their faces were hidden, Mako knew that the Black Veils were staring at her and Tendo with contempt and disgust and that, was not going to be tolerated. 

She took a few steps forward and immediately the Black Veils blocked her way. Tendo’s hand touched lightly on her shoulder. 

“Mako…don’t.” 

“I am going inside, they cannot stop me. They will not. I have to see my friends.” 

It took a sudden wrench of her arm to make her fall down to her knees. The Black Veil, was now in a stance and a position to pull her arm up behind her back to force her forward onto the ground, face first. 

These ever silent faction of the BuenaKai were devoted to their cause, to such a point that even the Sisterhood and monks daren’t speak or address them. They did the unspeakable, low and menial acts so the others didn’t have to, but that was a fact not many were trivial to. The public thought these silent shrouded members were harmless and they were just glorified caretakers of the temples. 

They were the ones who could stop Mako, but she didn’t believe that right now. 

She fell forward and used her fall to flip the Black Veil over her head in one swift motion. Mako lept to her feet and struck a double hit to the other, connecting one blow to its face and the other to its stomach. The first Black Veil had rolled out of its fall and was quickly standing, and now she confronted with both of them, one a little off balance from her assault. 

When she fought in Gipsy or with anyone in the Kwoon, Mako kept herself centred and calm but it was not the case now. With anger fuelling her, she fought the two with an aggression she had no control over. While she still had her grace and swiftness, she was relentless and hard, unforgiving and fierce in her retaliation to them. 

Everything was a blur, myriad memories and feelings swamped her mind and as she moved, ducking, pivoting and dodging, it was like someone else was controlling her, someone else was inside her body and making her fight. 

She felt like she was Raleigh Becket instead of Mako Mori. 

She could feel him, it was his anger and his rage guiding her moves. The ghost drift they shared had remained strong after Pitfall. It wasn’t supposed to remain like this. It shouldn’t be as strong as this. 

It had to be Raleigh, because through the anger she felt fear… he was utterly terrified. 

There was a rip. Something tore in her hand and her nails scraped across the flesh of a face and that was when everything came back into focus. Or did she just wake up? 

“Oh my god!” 

Tendo’s gasp of horror made Mako blink several times. Then she saw what he had seen. 

The shroud that had covered the Black Veil had come off in her hand, traces of blood caked the ends of her fingers and the disfigured, deformed face now had scratches across one cheek. The face didn’t look like a face, it had been cut numerous times over and Mako felt sick to her stomach. It didn’t take a genius to know that the man had done it to himself. 

Breathless, Mako backed away when the other Black Veil tried to shield his (her?) partner, Mako dropped the shroud and tried to look anywhere but at that man, but it was useless. That was until… 

“Here he is! Take him! Leave now blasphemer, you’ve done enough!” 

Mako turned and there was a monk, escorting Raleigh towards them. 

“Raleigh!” Tendo called his name, as she could not. 

She was stunned at the sight and state of him. His face was bruised, dark welts decorated pale sick skin and he was barely able to walk. He was stiff in his movements and the red and black clothes the BuenaKai had given him didn’t hide the other injuries on his arms and shoulder. 

They had beaten him. They had hurt him. 

Slowly, Mako walked up to him. He looked back at her, but he seemed distant, as if he was looking right through her. His eyes were bloodshot, lips were swollen and bloodied too… he looked awful. She held out her hand, took hold of his and pulled him close, expecting him to touch their foreheads together, to connect like they had done… like they always had to comfort one another. 

He didn’t. Raleigh let go and hobbled past her. 

“Chuck isn’t coming, Mako.” His voice was gravelly, hoarse and sore. “He’s staying with them. There’s nothing we can do.”

She tried to say his name, to ask him what happened, but she already knew. Chuck did this to him.


	30. A Father's Duty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Herc is told where his son is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Sorry for the lack of updating recently as my love for Thundershield in the marvel fandom has kind of taken over. A lot! But I haven't forgotten this! 
> 
> It's short again but I do hope to move the plot on further, get to the actiony stuff. Not beta'd though. 
> 
> Thank you to all those who are still following and reading. Means a lot.
> 
> \--------

He came back around still reeling from the nightmare of his son’s screams. He felt hands trying to sooth him and voices trying to do the same, but Herc couldn’t shake off the visions that had assaulted his mind, he couldn’t shut out the screams of his boy. 

Every fibre of his being was aching to find Chuck. He needed to be with his son, he needed to see that Chuck was okay. His superiors and their questions about what was going on could wait. Herc wasn't going to stay here to be asked useless questions and told stupid orders whilst Chuck was still out there, in pain and agony, with that _thing_ inside his head. Answers would come later, only when he was satisfied that Chuck was okay. 

“We found him.” 

That got Herc’s attention. He snapped out of his haze and with stinging eyes, glared at the blurred people still crowding round him. One small hand was on his shoulder, but it didn’t have a very strong grip. It was shaking. 

“Marshal… we found Chuck!” 

Herc rose to his feet, which gave out underneath him. He crashed to the ground and brought Newt down with him. Hope swelled up inside him, it surged within so much that his eyes stung more as tears streamed down his face. 

“Where?” His throat hurt, it grated like sandpaper. Herc was hauled to his feet, stronger hands than Newt’s steadied him, held him up. Herc turned and blinked. Krieger was here? 

“Lees…it’s Dustin! Get a grip! He’s safe. Chuck is safe!”

“I need to see him!”

“And you will but we need to talk about what happened to him and you. The threat of the Kaiju coming back, of those aliens making a move on us again, is high. What happened to you... are you still connected to Chuck?" 

"I'm bloody fine!"

"No you're not! We need to make sure that the jaegers are ready and that you are prepared. You’re the Marshal. I must know you can still rely on you to...” 

_“Where is my son?!”_

“He’s with the BuenaKai. He’s staying in the Scissure temple.” Newt wasn’t supposed to have said that. Krieger said a few choice words, he muttered them under his breath all the while glaring at Newt and mentally giving him a whack around the head, but neither of them could take that back. 

He felt his skin burn red with anger. Herc stormed towards the door, wobbling on his feet. While he was staggering unsteadily, his fists managed and had no problems with dropping anyone who got in his way. When a gun was pointed at him, he didn’t bother to turn and face Kreiger. 

“You want to shoot me, fine. Get someone to take my place. A bullet is the only way you’re going to stop me from going to that temple and seeing my son. You got that?” 

“You can’t storm into a BuenaKai temple, Lees! Especially the Scissure one! They won’ allow it, they already stopped Mako from doing it! They won’t let you of all people to set foot inside it! You were in Striker Eureka for crying out loud! You are at the top of their hate list!”

“So. They have my boy. Let them try and fucking stop me.”


	31. Gods & Rangers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What are they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there again peeps! 
> 
> Here's another chapter for you all! I hope you likes. As always, not beta'd so there will be mistakes. Thank you always to those who are reading this and still following. You rock! 
> 
> \---------

They took him back to the Shatterdome. Mako never left his side, she never faltered, even though she was tired. She wasn’t going to sleep or rest until she saw that Raleigh was okay. 

He never said anything on the drive back, he stared blankly out the widow, watching the slums pass by in a blur. He held her hand, but that was it. There was no squeeze or comfort, in fact Mako thought he didn’t want to actually hold her hand at all. 

The connection Mako shared with him was now nothing but a haze, a confusing fog. It felt as if their ghost connection was fading at last, but that was ridiculous. She felt strongly connected with Raleigh when she fought the Black Veils. It was like he had been right there with her… how could it be that the ghost drift was fading now? 

When Raleigh was being checked over in medical, Tendo asked him questions. 

“Knew he’d go to the beach. That thing inside him…is strong. He kicked the crap out of me. I blacked out and the next thing I knew I woke up in that… place.” 

He didn’t even look at Mako, or register that she was there. 

However he did explode with rage when Hermann tried to get near him. Raleigh’s anger had everyone backing away from him, but they accepted it when he apologised. His reason was that he was hurt and tired… that he just wanted to sleep.

The smile he gave when he finally acknowledged her… the squeeze of his hand and the touch of his forehead against hers, it felt right…even through the fog. 

She missed this. 

But there was _something different._

Raleigh sighed against her face, ever so gently, and gasped out a name. 

“Chuck.” 

\---------

Herc was being called. 

The ghost drift he had been two years without, had come back with a strength that seemed to literally permeate around him. Everyone knew that it wasn’t just Hercules Hansen inside the Marshal’s head… it was terrifying to them, they cowered out of his way. 

What was even more chilling to the Marshal’s armed back-up, to Newt and Kreiger, was that the Black Veils didn’t even try to stop him. They, the monks and sisters parted and bowed to him as if he was a revered and honoured guest. 

The BuenaKai, who despised the PPDC, the Rangers and non-believers, would never ever allow them in. This was strange. This felt very wrong on all levels when they themselves, were allowed to pass into their sacred temple. 

“Oh shit.” Newt simply said out loud what everyone thought. 

Chuck Hansen was standing by the alter, dressed only in a long, blood red, sarong around his waist. He was covered in cuts and bruises. He was smiling as if there wasn’t a thing wrong in the world, his tongue licking something sticky from his mouth. 

“Hi Dad.”

Herc couldn’t speak. He had been all set up to tear this place apart. He had been looking for a fight, resistance at least, but not this. It was the clear look of agonising horror on Herc’s face that showed he finally knew. 

“It’s no use pretending I suppose.” Chuck laughed and wiped his mouth with his fingers before sucking them with an aroused relish. In an instant that smile vanished and rage took over. His eyes blackened. “No… I’m not your darling fucking Chuck! What I am, your kind can’t say! I’m here to take back what is mine! I am going to wipe all you vermin out! And brave wonderful ‘Daddy’… you’re gonna help me!”


	32. Sleep Walk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So now they know. What are they going to do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone! 
> 
> Hope you all saw in 2015 well! Me... I had a stinking rotten cold but I'm getting better. It's been a while again, but don't fret I'm still going! This chapter was difficult for me and I'm not convinced it's my best work, but I still hope people like it. However, I am curiously liking and enjoying writing Herc and Mako interaction. :) 
> 
> I know you are all waiting for some serious arse kicking and stuff, plus more Chaleigh, don't worry that will be coming. Do enjoy this chapter...not beta'd! XD 
> 
> \-------

Were they all there? 

Mako looked to both men, sitting at the table looking like ghosts. They had the same blank expressions on their pale faces, but Herc’s eyes were red and haunted, terrified. 

He had been like this ever since he and the others returned from the temple. He looked so defeated…broken and sad. Mako felt so sorry for the Marshall, she wanted to do something for him, hold his hand or embrace him as Pentecost had done for her when she lost her parents, but Herc didn’t look like he was there. He was just a shell of the Marshall, of the Ranger Mako knew, with nothing left inside of him except for all the hurt. 

Raleigh appeared just as empty again, he was like he didn’t care about what had happened or what was going on. Neither men said or uttered a word.

Newt was talking, a lot. He explained what they all already knew, that somehow, Chuck was possessed by a Precursor from the Anteverse. He and Hermann spoke of several theories as to how it was possible, but the science and technology was far advanced than this universe had. 

“Can the precursor be taken out of Chuck?” Tendo had asked. The two scientists weren’t sure. 

“Without killing Chuck? I very much doubt it.” Hermann said. 

Herc slumped further into his seat and bowed his head. Mako edged closer to him, her hand tentatively reached out to touch his arm. 

“What is it’s intention?” she asked when Herc glared at her hand, wondering what it was doing there. 

“To wipe us out of course! To colonise this world. Plain and simple.” Newt replied. “How, I don’t know. Chuck… never went into details, though he seemed adamant that we’re going to help him do it.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.” Tendo added with a scoff. “So what do we do?”

“The Buenakai are harbouring this precursor.” Kreiger said. “We want to try and find a diplomatic solution first, but in my opinion apart from launching a full armed assault on the temple, which will anger the cult and its followers, we’re not going to get him. These guys are serious whack jobs. It’s a cult more popular than most people believe. I know.” 

“So what are we going to do?” Mako asked, still watching Raleigh stare off into nowhere. 

“Complete work on the Jaegers.” Kreiger said. “I sent word to Hong Kong to speed up the construction of theirs but as soon as they’re both finished, I want them here. Mako, Raleigh… you’ll be piloting the Australian Jaeger and I want the next best compatible candidates ready for the Chinese one when it arrives. There is nothing else we can do at the moment… assaulting the temple and taking Chuck by force is not an option.” 

“Why?” 

Kreiger didn’t say, but everyone knew that the Buenakai’s influence in the higher ranks of worldwide governments would be the reason. 

“Be ready people. The Precursor is planning something and I want us to be there when he starts. Doctors, find a way to get that thing out of Chuck once and for all.” 

That was that. They got up from their chairs and filed out, talking in hushed voices about their concerns. Raleigh was gone and away before Mako could get to her feet. 

Instead, she sank back down into her chair and tried again to console Herc. She let out a yawn. Fatigue was beginning to take over. 

To her surprise, Herc took hold of her hand in both of his. 

“Do you want me to stay, Marshall?” she asked.

Herc shook his head. He looked to Mako and she nearly broke seeing how choked up and lost he looked. Was he going to cry? No? 

“We’ll save him, sir.” Mako leaned into him and wrapped her arms around the older Ranger. “We will bring Chuck back.” 

“I doubt it.” Herc sighed and kissed Mako gently on the cheek, a thank you, before getting up and walking to the door. “Get some sleep, Mako. You’re going to need it.” 

“What… what about you?” 

“I can’t. The Ghost Drift is still strong. I can…feel that thing when I close my eyes and I can hear and feel the pain my boy is in, what he’s experiencing. I do not need sleep at all. I don’t want it.” 

\-----

It turned out that neither did Mako. When she went to sleep, Raleigh’s screams in her dreams quickly woke her in a state of terror that had her stumbling out of bed and of her quarters. She could taste and smell blood, Raleigh was crying out for her, begging for help. Her mind was affronted with flashes of memory… of tearing and ripping flesh, the cracking of bone… a curious kiss, a bite… touches that felt sexual…and sickening. 

She wanted to cry out, to rip these thoughts from her head, but as instantly as they had assaulted her, they stopped. Mako thanked god that it had, but she was left quite shaken and disorientated. 

That was until she saw Raleigh emerge from his room opposite hers. 

He was sleepwalking again. Just like before… he was like a zombie, unresponsive and undeterred by his naked state. Mako followed him, but nothing she did woke him, or broke him from his sleep walk. 

Not even when they reached Chuck’s old quarters.


	33. Someone Else

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is it Raleigh or someone else?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! 
> 
> So sorry there hasn't been an update for a while, usual RL excuses... work. But to be honest, my muse has also been attached to my SGA story and it's been driving me mad! 
> 
> So! Anyways! Here's the next chapter... some major Mako and Herc feels happening...hope you likes. Not beta'd.
> 
> \------

The room had not been assigned to anyone else. Herc had never allowed it. 

In fact Chuck’s room remained the same, exactly how he had left it before he and Herc were transferred to Hong Kong, with a few exceptions. He was a hero to all at the Shatterdome, to the world and so his quarters became a shrine, not like the memorial in Hawaii for other Jaeger pilots, it was far more personal. The J-crews, ranger candidates… in fact everyone who had ever worked and still worked in the Sydney dome, left remembrances for Chuck. Cards, flowers, notes… everything, people left their thanks for what he had done and it was arranged amongst all his own personal belongings that he was never able to take with him. 

So Mako cried out when Raleigh began to tear it all to pieces. 

Raleigh yelled with rage and destroyed the Sydney hero’s shrine with his fists. Glass shattered, wood splintered and metal was dented with Raleigh’s wrath, his bare feet kicked out and he wrecked everything he could. 

“Raleigh!” Mako tried to pull him away from it all, but it was useless. He shoved her back with one push of his hand. 

“It’s not him anymore!” Raleigh cried, upending the bed and ripping at the mattress. “It’s not him who did all those things to me! It's not him! Fucking bastard... fucking sick perverted bastard!” 

“Raleigh! WAKE UP!” 

A crunching blow to his face floored him, but when he looked back up at her, Mako was afraid. She couldn’t tell if he was awake or not. 

It was happening again. All through the years of Chuck’s absence, Raleigh had been like this. He had left Hong Kong and gone back home to Anchorage, cutting off all ties with the PPDC, with her and the others. Mako had never stopped looking for him and had found him eventually… defeated, tired and haunted. A fraction of the man she had piloted Gipsy with. 

Their ghost drift was the only thing that helped her bring him back… that and Chuck’s return. 

Now, as she placed a blanket from Chuck's bed over him, she wondered if this connection they had was worsening. She could feel his presence most of the time, no matter where they were and some feelings broke through, but since Pitfall... they weren't always the good ones. 

“What have you done?” 

Mako looked round and there was Herc, livid beyond anything. She had never seen him so angry. He strode up to Raleigh and hauled him to his feet, holding him with the tight folds of the blanket as he shoved the younger man up against the wall. Mako thought he was going to punch Raleigh, or worse, but instead when Raleigh blinked back into consciousness, Herc let him go, barely containing the rage he was feeling. 

“Get out of here!” Herc growled. “Go to your quarters before I fucking kick your arse to that hell you came back from!” 

“I’m sorry.” The words didn’t seem sincere, even though Raleigh looked around at what he’d done and was horrified. “I’m sorry!” 

“Leave!” Herc sneered. “Get out of my sight! GET OUT!”

Raleigh looked to Mako and then back to Herc before walking from the room, leaving small trails of blood from the cuts on his feet. 

Mako didn’t know what to say. From the nightmares that woke her, to the sight of Herc taking in the destruction of his son’s memory and dropping to his knees, she couldn't help but shake… with fear. She felt a sickness and agony in her stomach and she fell down next to Herc as he scrambled to tidy up the wreckage Raleigh had caused. 

She tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder. 

She never expected Herc to abruptly stop and grab her, wrap his arms around her and hold her close to him, his panicked breaths heaving close by her ear. For a moment, Mako tensed, thinking that at last the Marshall had finally broken, that he could no longer hold in the grief he was restraining, but she was wrong. 

“Are you okay?” he asked, his hand gently cradling the back of her head, checking her for signs of injury. “He didn’t hurt you?”

“Yes… I’m fine. There's no need to fuss over me. Raleigh wouldn’t hurt me. He couldn't.” 

A soft smile crept across Herc's face. "No. You're right. You could kick his arse more than I could."

Mako returned his smile, but she felt anything but fine. Still, Mako found herself leaning against Herc and wrapping her own arms around him. He relaxed, greatly comforted by her and vice versa. His breathing softened, the tension in his body eased but his hold on her tightened, as if he needed her composure to help with the rage still inside him. It wasn’t the same kind of comfort she had felt with Raleigh when they first drifted… it wasn’t serene or perfect… but it was nice. 

“Why did he do that?” Herc asked, looking at the devastation. "Why?" 

She could have said that Raleigh had been sleepwalking and that he didn't know what he was doing. It was true, but at the same time Mako had this nagging doubt that it wasn’t, that Raleigh knew exactly what he was doing. 

“I don’t know. But Marshall… we can fix this. We can make Chuck’s room right again. Restore his memory.” 

They rose together, each helping the other, and stood for a while amongst the wreckage. 

“No. Nothing will restore it… except the death of that thing inside my boy.” 

Which would kill Chuck as well. 

As Mako and Herc walked out, they both thought the same thing.

Raleigh knew more than he was telling. 

Neither of them slept. They couldn’t even dare.


	34. Ready and waiting to die inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Jaeger is complete but are the pilots?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa, it's been so long since I've posted! 
> 
> For those who are still following, I am sorry. Been ill with two bad ear infections and a perforated ear drum, so not much of anything was done. I'm better now and so here is the next chapter. 
> 
> I don't think it's my best, but I wanted to get this one out the way before the good stuff. 
> 
> Not beta'd. Enjoy. 
> 
> \-----

A week went by. 

The Jaeger was finished ahead of schedule and was ready and waiting to be tested. It still had no name and it bugged Tendo greatly that he couldn’t christen it, that no one could. The names offered never fit… they didn’t feel right and it really didn’t sit well with Tendo. 

This Australian creation was Chuck Hansen in Jaeger form. It was more aggressive looking than Cherno and Striker combined… it was angry and fierce, just how Herc wanted it to be, however, now it reminded Tendo too much of what Chuck was, who was inhabiting him.

Maybe that was why no one could name it. They didn’t want to, now they knew what Chuck was going through, that they knew he was still alive with that thing inside his head. 

But what also concerned Tendo was how the past few days and nights were affecting Mako, Raleigh and Herc. Raleigh’s ghost drift with Mako still made it impossible for the two of them to have a good night’s rest. His nightmares plagued her and kept her awake and Raleigh still sleepwalked. He roamed the Shatterdome, often making his way back to Chuck’s room, and anyone who woke him up nearly got clocked by a flaying fist. Medical help, even the psychiatrists, couldn’t do much for either of them. Raleigh and Mako were not at their peak. 

Tendo, in fact everyone, was concerned about how they would drift in the new Jaeger and while he knew she wouldn’t admit it, Mako was afraid that they wouldn’t be compatible anymore. Whatever Raleigh had witnessed over in the Anteverse, it had changed him and could stop them from being the pair they usually were. 

The Kwoon sessions helped alleviate some of those fears. When Mako and Raleigh sparred, it seemed there weren’t any problems at all, they were in perfect synch. 

Tendo watched with amazement as their last session played out, again they had perfect compatibility that had everyone in awe. Raleigh smiled when they fought, for him and Mako, it felt just like before and Mako was more confident. 

“We’ll be okay. I know it.” Raleigh said after their session. “We can do this, Mako.” 

She believed him. His hand touched her shoulder and she felt it. The familiar comforting breeze in her mind of their ghost-drift. 

Their first test in the new Jaeger was today. It had to go well. 

For Herc, things were not so hopeful. He was more fatigued and drained than either of them. Krieger knew that the Marshall was not fit for duty, but the Australian carried on regardless of what anyone tried to do for him. The lack of news or anything from the BuenaKai temple and Chuck, only put the elder Hansen more on edge. Medical tried to give him some drugs to help him sleep, but he refused. He barely ate, though when Mako encouraged him, Herc managed some more meals. 

Things were still strained between Herc and Raleigh. The Australian was distrusting of him and was quite hard too. He was like Chuck was towards Raleigh when they first came to the Hong Kong Shatterdome, before Pitfall. 

When the time came to test the new Jaeger, everyone assembled in LOCCENT was nervous. The numerous checks of the Jaeger and all the systems were carried out under Tendo’s watch and everything was fine, but during the wait as Raleigh and Mako got into their drives suits, as they were socketed into the motion rig, there was a tension that could have been cut with a knife. 

Herc’s close proximity over the LOCCENT officers, his peering over their shoulders, and his disapproval and requests for extra checks, was really putting everyone on edge. 

“Sir… it will be okay.” Tendo assured, glancing over to Krieger who was standing at the other side of the room. Krieger was about to say something, step in and intervene, but Herc leaned over a console and jolted a screen, showing Mako and Raleigh’s stats, with his fist. 

“Check it again.” Herc barked at the young officer at the station.

“He has, four times.” Krieger walked over and gently eased Herc away. “When Mako and Raleigh are ready…” 

“Check it again!” Herc demanded. “Something’s not right. I know it.” 

Tendo carried out the checks several more times, mainly because he had a suspicion that Herc was right. Raleigh was getting impatient, his comments over the comms showed just how much, but when everything was okay, there was no reason to not go ahead. 

3\. 

2.

1.

The bridge connected. Mako and Raleigh were drifting. 

Then Mako was screaming.


End file.
